ronicky_doone
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| — | ronicky_doone [2014/03/05 21:07] (current) – created briancarnell | ||
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| + | <p id=" | ||
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| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from behind had kept the dust moving forward at a pace just equal to | ||
| + | the gallop of his horse. Not until he had brought his mount to a halt | ||
| + | in front of the hotel and swung down to the ground did either he or | ||
| + | his horse become distinctly visible. Then it was seen that the animal | ||
| + | was in the last stages of exhaustion, with dull eyes and hanging head | ||
| + | and forelegs braced widely apart, while the sweat dripped steadily | ||
| + | from his flanks into the white dust on the street. Plainly he had been | ||
| + | pushed to the last limit of his strength.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | steps of the hotel with his shoulders sagging with weariness, a | ||
| + | wide-shouldered, | ||
| + | red kerchief and his blue shirt to a common gray. Dust, too, made | ||
| + | a mask of his face, and through that mask the eyes peered out, | ||
| + | surrounded by pink skin. Even at its best the long, solemn face could | ||
| + | never have been called handsome. But, on this particular day, he | ||
| + | seemed a haunted man, or one fleeing from an inescapable danger.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and made room for him to pass, but apparently he had no desire to | ||
| + | enter the building. Suddenly he became doubly imposing, as he stood on | ||
| + | the veranda and stared up and down at the idlers. Certainly his throat | ||
| + | must be thick and hot with dust, but an overmastering purpose made him | ||
| + | oblivious of thirst.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from his clothes, "is there anybody in this town can gimme a hoss to | ||
| + | get to Stillwater, inside three hours' riding?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | face. Naturally the oldest man spoke first, since this was a matter of | ||
| + | life and death.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | short way across the mountain."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ain't rode it before. I used to go that way when I was a kid, but | ||
| + | nowadays nobody rides that way except Doone. That trail is as tricky | ||
| + | as the ways of a coyote; you'd sure get lost without a guide."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | mountain rose from the very verge of the town, a ragged mass of sand | ||
| + | and rock, with miserable sagebrush clinging here and there, as dull | ||
| + | and uninteresting as the dust itself. Then he lowered the hand from | ||
| + | beneath which he had peered and faced about with a sigh. "I guess it | ||
| + | ain't much good trying that way. But I got to get to Stillwater inside | ||
| + | of three hours."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you can't get that hoss today."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | do."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | touch him, and he's the only one that can make the trip around the | ||
| + | mountain, inside of three hours. You'd kill another hoss trying to do | ||
| + | it, what with your weight."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | forehead. "But why can't I get the hoss? Is Doone out of town with | ||
| + | it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | time was maddening him. " | ||
| + | get to Martindale today. It's more than life or death to me. Where' | ||
| + | Doone' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | yonder in the corral—the bay."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | very tall, but a mare whose every inch of her fifteen three proclaimed | ||
| + | strength and speed. At that moment she raised her head and looked | ||
| + | across to him, and the heart of the rider jumped into his throat. The | ||
| + | very sight of her was an omen of victory, and he made a long stride in | ||
| + | her direction, but two men came before him. The old fellow jumped from | ||
| + | the chair and tapped his arm.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Gregg. Up in my country they know I'm straight; down here you ain't | ||
| + | heard of me. I ain't going to keep that hoss, and I'll pay a hundred | ||
| + | dollars for the use of her for one day. I'll bring or send her back | ||
| + | safe and sound, tomorrow. Here's the money. One of you gents, that's a | ||
| + | friend of Doone, take it for him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fellow. "I won't rent out that hoss for him. Why, he loves that mare | ||
| + | like she was his sister. He'd fight like a flash rather than see | ||
| + | another man ride her."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stealing his reason. He knew, as well as he knew that he was a man, | ||
| + | that, once in the saddle on her, he would be sure to win. Nothing | ||
| + | could stop him. And straight through the restraining circle he broke | ||
| + | with a groan of anxiety.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | don't be a fool. Maybe you don't recognize the name of Doone, but the | ||
| + | whole name is Ronicky Doone. Does that mean anything to you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | were obscure and uncertain. "Blast your Ronicky Doone!" | ||
| + | got to have that hoss, and, if none of you'll take money for her rent, | ||
| + | I'll take her free and pay her rent when I come through this way | ||
| + | tomorrow, maybe. S' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he whipped the saddle and bridle off, shouted to the hotel keeper | ||
| + | brief instructions for the care of the weary animal and ran across the | ||
| + | road with the saddle on his arm.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him in spite of all the flopping trappings. With prickly ears and eyes | ||
| + | lighted with kindly curiosity she looked the dusty fellow over.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | back she merely turned her head and carelessly watched it fall. And | ||
| + | when he drew up the cinches hard, she only stamped in mock anger. The | ||
| + | moment he was in the saddle she tossed her head eagerly, ready to be | ||
| + | off.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | through the gate of the corral. The men were standing in a long and | ||
| + | awe-stricken line, their eyes wide, their mouths agape. Whoever | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone might be, he was certainly a man who had won the respect | ||
| + | of this town. The men on the veranda looked at Bill Gregg as though | ||
| + | he were already a ghost. He waved his hand defiantly at them and the | ||
| + | mare, at a word from him, sprang into a long-striding gallop that | ||
| + | whirled them rapidly down the street and out of the village.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rounded the base of the big mountain, and, glancing up at the ragged | ||
| + | canyons which chopped the face of the peak, he was glad that he had | ||
| + | not attempted that short cut. If Ronicky Doone could make that trail | ||
| + | he was a skillful horseman.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | himself looking down on the wide plain which held Stillwater. The air | ||
| + | was crystal-clear and dry; the shoulder of the mountain was high above | ||
| + | it; Gregg saw a breathless stretch of the cattle country at one sweep | ||
| + | of his eyes.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | saw a tiny moving dot that grew slowly. It was the train heading for | ||
| + | Stillwater, and that train he must beat to the station. For a moment | ||
| + | his heart stood still; then he saw that the train was distant indeed, | ||
| + | and, by the slightest use of the mare's speed, he would be able to | ||
| + | reach the town, two or three minutes ahead of it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hard riding of the past three days, the mare tossed up her head and | ||
| + | shortened her stride. The heart of Gregg stopped, and he went cold. It | ||
| + | was not only the fear that his journey might be ruined, but the fear | ||
| + | that something had happened to this magnificent creature beneath him. | ||
| + | He swung to the side in the saddle and watched her gallop. Certain she | ||
| + | went laboring, very much as though she were trying to run against a | ||
| + | mighty pull on the reins.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she was frightened by some foolish thing near the road. He touched her | ||
| + | with the spurs, and she increased her pace to the old length and | ||
| + | ease of stride; but, just as he had begun to be reassured, her step | ||
| + | shortened and fell to laboring again, and this time she threw her head | ||
| + | higher than before. It was amazing to Bill Gregg; and then it seemed | ||
| + | to him that he heard a faint, far whistling, floating down from high | ||
| + | above his head.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right shoulder, he saw a horseman plunging down the slope of the | ||
| + | mountain. He knew instantly that it was Ronicky Doone. The man had | ||
| + | come to recapture his horse and had taken the short cut across the | ||
| + | mountain to come up with her. Just by a fraction of a minute Doone | ||
| + | would be too late, for, by the time he came down onto the trail, | ||
| + | the bay would be well ahead, and certainly no horse lived in those | ||
| + | mountains capable of overtaking her when she felt like running. Gregg | ||
| + | touched her again with the spurs, but this time she reared straight up | ||
| + | and, whirling to the side, faced steadily toward her onrushing master.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | slightest knowledge of bucking, she could only shake her head and send | ||
| + | a ringing whinny of appeal up the slope of the mountain, toward the | ||
| + | approaching rider.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ruining his chances of getting to Stillwater before the train, Bill | ||
| + | Gregg watched in marvel and delight the horsemanship of the stranger. | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone, if this were he, was certainly the prince of all wild | ||
| + | riders.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone sent his mount over the edge of a veritable cliff, flung him | ||
| + | back on his haunches and slid down the gravelly slope, careening | ||
| + | from side to side. With a rush of pebbles about him and a dust cloud | ||
| + | whirling after, Ronicky Doone broke out into the road ahead of the | ||
| + | mare, and she whinnied softly again to greet him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a gunfighter as he had been led to expect, but a handsome fellow, | ||
| + | several years younger than he, a high-headed, | ||
| + | type. In his seat in the saddle, in the poise of his head and the play | ||
| + | of his hand on the reins Bill Gregg recognized a boundless nervous | ||
| + | force. There was nothing ponderous about Ronicky Doone. Indeed he was | ||
| + | not more than middle size, but, as he reined his horse in the middle | ||
| + | of the road and looked with flashing eyes at Bill Gregg, he appeared | ||
| + | very large indeed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | same time, as occasion offered. He decided that this was certainly an | ||
| + | occasion for much money and few words.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pretty bad trick on you, taking your hoss this way. But I wanted to | ||
| + | pay for it, Doone, and I'll pay now. I've got to get to Stillwater | ||
| + | before that train. Look at her! I haven' | ||
| + | touched. She's pretty wet, but sweat never hurt nothing on four feet, | ||
| + | eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wife as his hoss."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hoss."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | larger and larger in the plain, and Stillwater seemed more and more | ||
| + | distant. He writhed in the saddle.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | want."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and fix.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | spurs!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | used the spurs more recklessly than he thought. A sharp rowel had | ||
| + | picked through the skin, and, though it was probably only a slight | ||
| + | wound indeed, it had brought a smear of red to the surface.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | didn't need a spur on that hoss! What part d'you come from where they | ||
| + | teach you to kill a hoss when you ride it? Can you tell me that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a fight. But a sudden anger had flared up in him. He had an impulse to | ||
| + | kill; to get rid of this obstacle between him and everything he wanted | ||
| + | most in life. Without more warning than that he snatched out his | ||
| + | revolver and fired point blank at Ronicky Doone. Certainly all the | ||
| + | approaches to a fight had been made, and Doone might have been | ||
| + | expecting the attack. At any rate, as the gun shot out of Gregg' | ||
| + | holster, the other swung himself sidewise in his own saddle and, | ||
| + | snapping out his revolver, fired from the hip.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his own bullet plowed cleanly through the thigh of the other rider. | ||
| + | The whole leg of Gregg went numb, and he found himself slumping | ||
| + | helplessly to one side. He dropped his gun, and he had to cling with | ||
| + | both hands to lower himself out of the saddle. Now he sat in the dust | ||
| + | of the trail and stared stupidly, not at his conqueror, but at the | ||
| + | train that was flashing into the little town of Stillwater, just below | ||
| + | them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | oath, knelt beside him and examined the wound. " | ||
| + | said, as he started ripping up his undershirt to make bandages. " | ||
| + | have you fixed so you can be gotten into Stillwater."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which he had first laid bare by some dexterous use of a hunting knife.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of Stillwater. The sound of the coughing of the engine, as it started | ||
| + | up, came faintly to them after a moment.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fight or the first wound for either of them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | When I seen the red on her side—"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I'm no end sorry this has happened. Maybe you'd lemme know why you was | ||
| + | in such a hurry to get to Stillwater. If they's any trouble coming | ||
| + | down the road behind you, maybe I can help take care of it for you." | ||
| + | And he smiled coldly and significantly at Bill Gregg.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and was now offering to fight for his safety. " | ||
| + | said Bill. "I was going to Stillwater to meet a girl."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tell me what you wanted?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | explaining to everybody along the road."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what happened."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you the best thing would be for you to jump on your mare and jog into | ||
| + | Stillwater for a buckboard and then come back and get me. What d'you | ||
| + | say?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down the road, the buckboard arrived and the wounded man was helped on | ||
| + | to a pile of blankets in the body of the wagon.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone happened to be passing along that way and saw Bill Gregg | ||
| + | looking over his revolver as he rode along. At that moment the gun | ||
| + | exploded and—</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with expressionless faces. As a matter of fact they had already heard | ||
| + | in Stillwater that no less a person than Ronicky Doone was on his way | ||
| + | toward that village in pursuit of a man who had ridden off on the | ||
| + | famous bay mare, Lou. But they accepted Ronicky' | ||
| + | accident with perfect calm and with many expressions of sympathy. They | ||
| + | would have other things to say after they had deposited the wounded | ||
| + | man in Stillwater.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | exhaustion of the long three days' trip was now causing a wave of | ||
| + | weariness to sweep over him. The numbness, which had come through the | ||
| + | leg immediately after the shooting, was now replaced by a steady and | ||
| + | continued aching. And more than all he was unnerved by the sense of | ||
| + | utter failure, utter loss. Never in his life had he fought so bitterly | ||
| + | and steadily for a thing, and yet he had lost at the very verge of | ||
| + | success.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone swore that he would tackle the first man who accused him | ||
| + | of having shot down Bill Gregg, the talk was confined to whispers. In | ||
| + | the meantime Stillwater rejoiced in its possession of Ronicky Doone. | ||
| + | Beyond one limited section of the mountain desert he was not as | ||
| + | yet known, but he had one of those personalities which are called | ||
| + | electric. Whatever he did seemed greater because he, Ronicky Doone, | ||
| + | had done it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | peculiar feeling in the air that Ronicky Doone was capable of great | ||
| + | and strange performances. Men older than he were willing to accept him | ||
| + | as their leader; men younger than he idolized him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | doorway of Stillwater' | ||
| + | a terrific yellow, set off with crimson half-moon and stars strewn | ||
| + | liberally on it. His shirt is merely white, but it is given some | ||
| + | significance by having nearly half of a red silk handkerchief falling | ||
| + | out of the breast pocket. His sombrero is one of those works of art | ||
| + | which Mexican families pass from father to son, only his was new and | ||
| + | had not yet received that limp effect of age. And, like the gaudiest | ||
| + | Mexican head piece, the band of this sombrero was of purest gold, | ||
| + | beaten into the forms of various saints. Ronicky Doone knew nothing at | ||
| + | all about saints, but he approved very much of the animation of the | ||
| + | martyrdom scenes and felt reasonably sure that his hatband could not | ||
| + | be improved upon in the entire length and breadth of Stillwater, and | ||
| + | the young men of the town agreed with him, to say nothing of the | ||
| + | girls.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | country of buckskin, were always the softest and the smoothest and the | ||
| + | most comfortable kid that could be obtained.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | end of a lariat from the straight end, hardly. Neither did Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone know the slightest thing about barbed wire, except how to cut | ||
| + | it when he wished to ride through. Let us look closely at the hands | ||
| + | themselves, as Ronicky stands in the door of the hotel and stares at | ||
| + | the people walking by. For he has taken off his gloves and he now | ||
| + | rolls a cigarette.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tapering. The wrists are round and almost as innocent of sinews as the | ||
| + | wrists of a woman, save when he grips something, and then how they | ||
| + | stand out. But, most remarkable of all, the skin of the palms of those | ||
| + | hands is amazingly soft. It is truly as soft as the skin of the hand | ||
| + | of a girl.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | were some who inferred that Ronicky Doone was little better than a | ||
| + | scapegrace, and that, in reality, he had never done a better or more | ||
| + | useful thing than handle cards and swing a revolver. In both of which | ||
| + | arts it was admitted that he was incredibly dexterous. As a matter | ||
| + | of fact, since there was no estate from which he drew an income, and | ||
| + | since he had never been known in the entire history of his young life | ||
| + | to do a single stroke of productive work of any kind, the bitter | ||
| + | truth was that Ronicky Doone was no better and no worse than a common | ||
| + | gambler.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was a very great sinner. Yet it should be remarked that he lacked the | ||
| + | fine art of taking the money of other less clever fellows when they | ||
| + | were intoxicated, | ||
| + | enables many gamblers to enjoy taking the last cent from an opponent. | ||
| + | Also, though he knew the entire list of tricks in the repertoire of | ||
| + | a crooked gambler, he had never been known to employ tricking. | ||
| + | He trusted in a calm head, a quick judgment, an ability to read | ||
| + | character. And, though he occasionally met with crooked professionals | ||
| + | who were wolves in the guise of sheep, no one had ever been known to | ||
| + | play more than one crooked trick at cards when playing against Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone. So, on the whole, he made a very good living.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | friends, of whom he had a vast number. All of which goes to explain | ||
| + | the soft hands of Ronicky Doone and his nervous, swift-moving fingers, | ||
| + | as he stood at the door of the hotel. For he who plays long with cards | ||
| + | or dice begins to have a special sense developed in the tips of his | ||
| + | fingers, so that they seem to be independent intelligences.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the best of bootmakers, and they fitted the high-arched instep with | ||
| + | the elastic smoothness of gloves. The man of the mountain desert | ||
| + | dresses the extremities and cares not at all for the mid sections. | ||
| + | The moment Doone was off his horse those boots had to be dressed and | ||
| + | rubbed and polished to softness and brightness before this luxurious | ||
| + | gambler would walk about town. From the heels of the boots extended a | ||
| + | long pair of spurs—surely a very great vanity, for never in her life | ||
| + | had his beautiful mare, Lou, needed even the touch of a spur.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | were plated heavily with gold, and they swept up and out in a long, | ||
| + | exquisite curve, the hub of the rowel set with diamonds.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that he seemed to dress to please himself rather than the rest of the | ||
| + | world. His glances never roved about taking account of the admiration | ||
| + | of others. As he leaned there in the door of the hotel he was the type | ||
| + | of the young, happy, genuine and carefree fellow, whose mind is no | ||
| + | heavier with a thousand dollars or a thousand cents in his pocket.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | firmly over his eyes, threw away his unlighted cigarette and hurried | ||
| + | across the veranda of the hotel. Had he seen an enemy to chastise, | ||
| + | or an old friend to greet, or a pretty girl? No, it was only old Jud | ||
| + | Harding, the blacksmith, whose hand had lost its strength, but who | ||
| + | still worked iron as others mold putty, simply because he had the | ||
| + | genius for his craft. He was staggering now under a load of boards | ||
| + | which he had shouldered to carry to his shop. In a moment that load | ||
| + | was shifted to the shoulder of Ronicky Doone, and they went on down | ||
| + | the street, laughing and talking together until the load was dropped | ||
| + | on the floor of Harding' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for a little exercise. Lucky thing it was a clean wound and didn't | ||
| + | nick the bone. Soon as it's healed over he'll never know he was | ||
| + | plugged."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to me," he said, "is how you and this gent Gregg have hit it off so | ||
| + | well together. Might almost say it was like you'd shot Gregg and now | ||
| + | was trying to make up for it. But, of course, that ain't the truth."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | without faltering.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with that gun while he was in the saddle, which just means that the | ||
| + | muzzle must of been pretty close to his skin. But there wasn't any | ||
| + | sign of a powder burn, the doc says."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | it." He went on more seriously: "I got something to tell you, Ronicky. | ||
| + | Ever hear the story about the gent that took pity on the snake that | ||
| + | was stiff with cold and brought the snake in to warm him up beside the | ||
| + | fire? The minute the snake come to life he sunk his fangs in the gent | ||
| + | that had saved him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Gregg, I'd better look out for him?"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the gent was because he'd had a stone heaved at him by the same man | ||
| + | one day and hadn't forgot it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Gregg had been a strange patient. He had never repeated his first | ||
| + | offer to tell his story. He remained sullen and silent, with his | ||
| + | brooding eyes fixed on the blank wall before him, and nothing could | ||
| + | permanently cheer him. Some inward gloom seemed to possess the man.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | painfully written letter, while Ronicky propped a writing board in | ||
| + | front of him, as he lay flat on his back in the bed, but that was his | ||
| + | only act. Thereafter he remained silent and brooding. Perhaps it | ||
| + | was hatred for Ronicky that was growing in him, as the sense of | ||
| + | disappointment increased, for Ronicky, after all, had kept him from | ||
| + | reaching that girl when the train passed through Stillwater. Perhaps, | ||
| + | for all Ronicky knew, his bullet had ruined the happiness of two | ||
| + | lives. He shrugged that disagreeable thought away, and, reaching the | ||
| + | hotel, he went straight up to the room of the sick man.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | me? Is that what keeps you thin and glum? Is it because you sit here | ||
| + | all day blaming me for all the things that have happened to you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sufficient answer. Ronicky Doone sighed and shook his head, but not in | ||
| + | anger.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | blame you, Bill, because, maybe, I've spoiled things pretty generally | ||
| + | for you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about the matter, yet he finally said aloud: "I don't blame you. Maybe | ||
| + | you thought I was a hoss thief. But the thing is done, Ronicky, and it | ||
| + | won't never be undone!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | yarn. You ain't through with this little chase. Not if I have to drag | ||
| + | you along with me. But first just figure that I'm your older brother | ||
| + | or something like that and get rid of the whole yarn. Got to have the | ||
| + | ore specimens before you can assay 'em. Besides, it'll help you a pile | ||
| + | to get the poison out of your system. If you feel like cussing me | ||
| + | hearty when the time comes go ahead and cuss, but I got to hear that | ||
| + | story."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the talking."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | immemorial custom of story tellers, and his glance misted a little | ||
| + | with the flood of recollections.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Sullivan Mountains working a claim. There wasn't much to it, just | ||
| + | enough to keep me going sort of comfortable. I pegged away at it | ||
| + | pretty steady, leading a lonely life and hoping every day that I'd cut | ||
| + | my way down to a good lead. Well, the fine ore never showed up.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | face all the time. I didn't have even a dog with me for conversation, | ||
| + | so I got to thinking. Thinking is a bad thing, mostly, don't you | ||
| + | agree, Ronicky?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | soon you're even doubting yourself." | ||
| + | the smooth brow of his companion. "But I guess that never happened to | ||
| + | you, Ronicky?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and of myself that I decided something had ought to be done; something | ||
| + | to give me new things to think about. So I sat down and went over the | ||
| + | whole deal.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | once. He'd got pretty interested in mining and figured he wanted to | ||
| + | know all about how the fancy things was done. So he sent off to some | ||
| + | correspondence schools. Well, they' | ||
| + | us a lot of letters and ask us your questions. Before you're through | ||
| + | you'll know something you want to know.' See?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | myself for company when I got tired of solitaire. So I sat down and | ||
| + | wrote to this here correspondence school and says: 'I want to do | ||
| + | something interesting. How d'you figure that I had better begin?' | ||
| + | what d'you think they answered back?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and think that in the first place you had better learn how to write.' | ||
| + | That was a queer answer, wasn't it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | looked at it a hundred times a day and come near tearing it up every | ||
| + | time. But I didn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | while!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "Well, that letter made me so plumb mad that I sat down and wrote | ||
| + | everything I could think of that a gent would say to a girl to let her | ||
| + | know what I thought about her. And what d'you think happened?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky, " | ||
| + | you—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that's the thing she done, right enough. She writes me a letter that | ||
| + | was smooth as oil and suggests that I go on with a composition course | ||
| + | to learn how to write."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | harm to unlimber my pen and fire out a few words a day. So I done it. | ||
| + | I started writing what they told me to write about, the things that | ||
| + | was around me, with a lot of lessons about how you can't use the same | ||
| + | word twice on one page, and how terrible bad it is to use too many | ||
| + | passive verbs."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | something that slows you up the way a muddy road slows up a hoss. | ||
| + | And then she begun talking about the mountains, and then she begun | ||
| + | asking—</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | snapshot of herself. Well—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wear there."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | submitted with a sheepish grin, took off the locket, which was made of | ||
| + | one big nugget rudely beaten into shape, and opened it for the benefit | ||
| + | of Ronicky Doone. It showed the latter not a beautiful face, but a | ||
| + | pretty one with a touch of honesty and pride that made her charming.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | back the locket, "I sure got excited. Looked to me like that girl was | ||
| + | made for me. A lot finer than I could ever be, you see, but simple; no | ||
| + | fancy frills, no raving beauty, maybe, but darned easy to look at.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rushed it right back at her and then—" | ||
| + | d'you think, Ronicky?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | letter I'd sent along."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her change her mind. I thought of pretty near everything else that was | ||
| + | bad about me and that she might of read in my face. Sure made me sick | ||
| + | for a long time. Somebody else was correcting my lessons, and that | ||
| + | made me sicker than ever.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him I'd like to get the address of that first girl. You see, I didn't | ||
| + | even know her name. But I didn't get no answer."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could help you to find a girl when you don't know her name." He added | ||
| + | gently: "But maybe she don't want you to find her?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from San Francisco, saying that she was coming on a train through | ||
| + | these parts and could I be in Stillwater because the train stopped | ||
| + | there a couple of minutes. Most like she thought Stillwater was just | ||
| + | sort of across the street from me. Matter of fact, I jumped on a hoss, | ||
| + | and it took me three days of breaking my neck to get near Stillwater | ||
| + | and then—" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | makes me sick to think about it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | reason I didn't have her correcting my lessons any more was because | ||
| + | she'd had to leave the schools and go West. So, right after I got this | ||
| + | drilling through the leg, you remember, I wrote a letter?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | didn't go back there after all. She's plumb gone, Ronicky."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her?" he asked suddenly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | can start on the trail. I'm going to go with you, partner. I've messed | ||
| + | up considerable, | ||
| + | I can to straighten it out. Sometimes two are better than one. Anyway | ||
| + | I'm going to stick with you till you've found her or lost her for | ||
| + | good. You see?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what good does it do for two gents to look for a needle in a haystack? | ||
| + | How could we start to hit the trail?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Pullman conductor that was on it, and he might remember her. They got | ||
| + | good memories, some of those gents. We'll start to find him, which had | ||
| + | ought to be pretty easy."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with me?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | so early in life that the glamour of it had not yet passed away. He | ||
| + | was large enough to have passed for a champion wrestler or a burly | ||
| + | pugilist, and he was small enough to glory in the smallest details of | ||
| + | his work. Having at the age of thirty, through a great deal of luck | ||
| + | and a touch of accident, secured his place, he possessed, at least, | ||
| + | sufficient dignity to fill it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the doors of their homes. Robert Macklin' | ||
| + | intervals when he was off the trains, was in a tiny apartment. It was | ||
| + | really one not overly large room, with a little alcove adjoining; but | ||
| + | Robert Macklin had seized the opportunity to hang a curtain across | ||
| + | the alcove, and, since it was large enough to contain a chair and a | ||
| + | bookshelf, he referred to it always as his " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | through the curtains and resting on the foot of his bed, when the | ||
| + | doorbell rang. He surveyed himself in his mirror before he answered | ||
| + | it. Having decided that, in his long dressing gown, he was imposing | ||
| + | enough, he advanced to the door and slowly opened it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that they were newly come out of the West. The one was a fellow whose | ||
| + | face had been made stern by hard work and few pleasures in life. The | ||
| + | other was one who, apparently, had never worked at all. There was | ||
| + | something about him that impressed Robert Macklin. He might be a young | ||
| + | Western millionaire, | ||
| + | with elaborate care. He wore gray spats, and his clothes were | ||
| + | obviously well tailored, and his necktie was done in a bow. On the | ||
| + | whole he was a very cool, comfortable looking chap. The handkerchief, | ||
| + | which protruded from his breast pocket and showed an edging of red, | ||
| + | was a trifle noisy; and the soft gray hat was hardly in keeping, but, | ||
| + | on the whole, he was a dashing-looking chap. The bagging trousers | ||
| + | and the blunt-toed shoes of his companion were to Robert Macklin a | ||
| + | distinct shock. He centered all of his attention instantly on the | ||
| + | younger of his two visitors.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | them in with a sweeping gesture.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | immediately made himself comfortable on the bed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that you have some information which we can use. Mind if we fire a few | ||
| + | questions?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | himself with caution. One could never tell.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | cigarette, while his companion rolled one of his own making, "we are | ||
| + | looking for a lady who was on one of your trains. We think you may | ||
| + | possibly remember her. Here's the picture."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with the details of the date and the number of the train.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | keen eye for faces, but when it came to pretty faces his memory was a | ||
| + | veritable lion. He had talked a few moments with this very girl, and | ||
| + | she had smiled at him. The memory made Robert Macklin' | ||
| + | just a trifle, and Ronicky Doone saw it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | thought. "It is vaguely behind my mind, something about this lady," he | ||
| + | said. "But I'm sorry to say, gentlemen, I really don't know you and—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | just introduced us?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hundred points. Such grammar proclaimed a ruffian.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | introduced us, but he doesn' | ||
| + | along a letter of introduction." | ||
| + | sorry I didn't get one," he said.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | mocked, but he instantly dismissed the foolish thought. Even the rough | ||
| + | fellows must be able to recognize a man when they saw one.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for important reasons to see this lady, to find her. And he doesn' | ||
| + | even know her name." Here his careful grammar gave out with a crash. | ||
| + | "You can't beat a deal like that, eh, Macklin? If you can remember | ||
| + | anything about her, her name first, then, where she was bound, who was | ||
| + | with her, how tall she is, the color of her eyes, we'd be glad to know | ||
| + | anything you know. What can you do for us?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "if I knew the purpose for which you are seeking the lady I—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "We ain't going to treat her wrong, partner. Out in our part of | ||
| + | the land they don't do it. Just shake up your thoughts and see if | ||
| + | something about that girl doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | impossible for me to remember a thing," | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | went on more gravely: " | ||
| + | something about her."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | youngster, and Robert Macklin had been an amateur pugilist of much | ||
| + | brawn and a good deal of boxing skill. He cast a wary eye on Ronicky; | ||
| + | one punch would settle that fellow. The man Gregg might be a harder | ||
| + | nut to crack, but it would not take long to finish them both. Robert | ||
| + | Macklin thrust his shoulders forward.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | day for rest. I have to say good-by."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | companion. "Mind the door, Gregg, and see that nobody steps in and | ||
| + | busts up my little party."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | than the chatter we've been making so far." He stepped a long light | ||
| + | pace forward. " | ||
| + | talk?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that he must believe his ears, and yet the words still rang there.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stepping in, he leaned forward with a perfect straight left.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stiffened his muscles. With delight he felt all the big sinews about | ||
| + | his shoulders come into play. Straight and true the big fist drove | ||
| + | into the face of the smaller man, but Robert Macklin found that he had | ||
| + | punched a hole in thin air. It was as if the very wind of the blow had | ||
| + | brushed the head of Ronicky Doone to one side, and at the same time he | ||
| + | seemed to sway and stagger forward.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | doubled up, clubbing his right fist to land the blow behind the ear | ||
| + | of Ronicky Doone, the latter bent back, stepped in and, rising on the | ||
| + | toes of both feet, whipped a perfect uppercut that, in ring parlance, | ||
| + | rang the bell.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stood wobbling slowly from side to side.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | side, and I'll take the other. He's out on his feet. Get him to that | ||
| + | chair." | ||
| + | Macklin was still stunned.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Big Robert Macklin sank limply back in the chair.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in the bank, but if a check will—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Macklin. A lot of talk and a lot of true talk. Understand? It's about | ||
| + | that girl. I saw you grin when you saw the picture; you remember her | ||
| + | well enough. Now start talking, and remember this, if you lie, I'll | ||
| + | come back here and find out and use this on you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | concentrated on the black muzzle of the gun. He moistened his white | ||
| + | lips and managed to gasp: " | ||
| + | everything, word for word. She—she—her name I mean—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Bill. When you come at him with that hungry look he thinks you're | ||
| + | going to eat him up. Fire away, Macklin."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | lie. We want the truth. How big is she?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | thirty pounds."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | didn't miss her name?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Get the last name right. It's the most important to us."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | more, anything about where she expected to be living in New York?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky' | ||
| + | down and have any chats with her. She just spoke to me once in a while | ||
| + | when I did something for her. I suppose you fellows have some crooked | ||
| + | work on hand for her?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | can't remember where she said she lived in New York." And he gave | ||
| + | added point to his question by pressing the muzzle of the revolver | ||
| + | a little closer to the throat of the Pullman conductor. The latter | ||
| + | blinked and swallowed hard.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | River from her window, I think."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | trick or two in this game before it's finished. I'll never forget you, | ||
| + | Doone, and you, Gregg."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | without a skin."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | then they were gone down the steps and into the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | prospects and what they had gained.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | professional optimist. "We had a picture of a girl, and we knew she | ||
| + | was on a certain train bound East, three or four weeks ago. That's all | ||
| + | we knew. Now we know her name is Caroline Smith, and that she lives | ||
| + | where she can see the East River out of her back window. I guess that | ||
| + | narrows it down pretty close, doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | said Ronicky cheerily. "All we've got to do is to locate the shack | ||
| + | that stands beside that trail. For old mountain men like us that ought | ||
| + | to be nothing. What sort of a stream is this East River, though?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | used to regarding Doone as entirely infallible that it amazed and | ||
| + | disheartened him to find that there was one topic so large about which | ||
| + | Ronicky knew nothing. Perhaps the whole base for the good cheer of | ||
| + | Ronicky was his ignorance of everything except the mountain desert.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | beside it, and in the town there' | ||
| + | Why, Bill, she's as good as found!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | groaned Bill Gregg.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his companion. "Bill, you sure are making a man-sized joke. There | ||
| + | ain't that much city in the world. A dozen miles of houses, one right | ||
| + | next to the other?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | center of that town and swing a twenty-mile line around it, and the | ||
| + | end of the line will be passing through houses most of the way."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hunting for a girl named Smith that lives on the bank of the East | ||
| + | River!" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | turn the subject of conversation until he could think of something to | ||
| + | cheer his friend.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | neither of them slept long, for every rattle and sway of the train was | ||
| + | telling them that they were rocking along toward an impossible task. | ||
| + | Even the cheer of Ronicky had broken down the next morning, and, | ||
| + | though breakfast in the diner restored some of his confidence, he was | ||
| + | not the man of the day before.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "there must be something wrong with me. What is it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you see them, and when they begin looking at you out of the corner | ||
| + | of their eyes the minute you turn away, why then it seems to me that | ||
| + | they' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | laughed at me!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Bill. You can punch a gent for cussing you, or stepping on your foot, | ||
| + | or crowding you, or sneering at you, or talking behind your back, or | ||
| + | for a thousand things. But back here in a crowd you can't fight a gent | ||
| + | for laughing at you. Laughing is outside the law most anywheres, Bill. | ||
| + | It's the one thing you can't answer back except with more laughing. | ||
| + | Even a dog gets sort of sick inside when you laugh at him, and a man | ||
| + | is a pile worse. He wants to kill the gent that's laughing, and he | ||
| + | wants to kill himself for being laughed at. Well, Bill, that's a good | ||
| + | deal stronger than the way they been laughing at me, but they | ||
| + | done enough to make me think a bit. They been looking at three | ||
| + | things—these here spats, the red rim of my handkerchief sticking out | ||
| + | of my pocket, and that soft gray hat, when I got it on."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that that was the style back East, to have spats like that on?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with some, but not with me. Maybe I'm kind of too brown and outdoors | ||
| + | looking to fit with spats and handkerchiefs like this."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pile, but you figure things out just like a book."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | houses, and then more and more. From the elevated line on which they | ||
| + | ran presently they could look down on block after block of roofs | ||
| + | packed close together, or big business structures, as they reached the | ||
| + | uptown business sections, and finally Ronicky gasped, as they plunged | ||
| + | into utter darkness that roared past the window.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a little startled himself, but his reading had fortified him to a | ||
| + | certain extent.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him swell like a frog in the sun. "This is kinder near One Hundredth | ||
| + | Street where we dived down. New York keeps right on to First Street, | ||
| + | and then it has a lot more streets below that. But that's just the | ||
| + | Island of Manhattan. All around there' | ||
| + | mostly where they work. They live other places."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Central Station. On the long platform Ronicky surrendered his suit | ||
| + | case to the first porter. Bill Gregg was much alarmed. " | ||
| + | that for?" he asked, securing a stronger hold on his own valise and | ||
| + | brushing aside two or three red caps.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | giving it to him to carry, but I hated to hurt his feelings. Besides, | ||
| + | they' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Your brand-new pair of Colts is lying away in it!"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "I got another Colt with me, and, no matter how fast he runs, a | ||
| + | forty-five slug can run a pile faster. But come on, Bill. The word in | ||
| + | this town seems to be to keep right on moving."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | through the crowds in pursuit of the astonishingly agile porter. So | ||
| + | they came out of the big station to Forty-second Street, where they | ||
| + | found themselves confronted by a taxi driver and the question: | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the hotels in this here town?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | enough to come this far away from my home diggings. But here I am, and | ||
| + | we don't know nothing."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fair-to-medium place to stop at?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which nothing could remove. "What kind of a place? Anywhere from fifty | ||
| + | cents to fifty bucks a night."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky? Our wad won't last a week."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fix you up. I know a neat little joint where you'll be as snug as you | ||
| + | want. They' | ||
| + | price in this town and keep clean."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | darker streets to the east of the district and came suddenly to a | ||
| + | halt.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again. I know the number of blocks, too. Ain't no reason for getting | ||
| + | rattled just because a joint is strange to us. New York may be | ||
| + | tolerable big, but it's got men in it just like we are, and maybe a | ||
| + | lot worse kinds."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | preceded them, carrying their suit cases. They followed up a steep | ||
| + | pitch of stairs to the first floor of the hotel, where the landing had | ||
| + | been widened to form a little office.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Grand Central. They ain't wise to the town, so I put 'em next to you.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Fix 'em up here?"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | desk. He placed his fat hands on the top of it and observed his guests | ||
| + | with a smile. "Ill make you right to home here, friends. Thank you, | ||
| + | Joe!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down the stairs, humming. Their host, in the meantime, had picked up | ||
| + | their suit cases and led the way down a hall dimly lighted by two | ||
| + | flickering gas jets. Finally he reached a door and led them into a | ||
| + | room where the gas had to be lighted. It showed them a cheerless | ||
| + | apartment in spite of the red of wall paper and carpet.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | charity out of the fullness of his heart. " | ||
| + | down. I guess you can't beat this layout, gents?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | enthusiasm.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I get you a bottle of rye I got handy." | ||
| + | their protests.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sure insulting to turn down a drink in these days!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rattling against a tall bottle on a tray.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | their protests, until each glass was full.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | said, stepping back and rubbing his hands like one warmed by the | ||
| + | consciousness of a good deed. "It ain't very plentiful around here."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky, and here's to you, sir!"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | like you ain't drinking," | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | them. "Used to indulge a little in light wines and beers when the | ||
| + | country was wet, but when it went dry the stuff didn't mean enough to | ||
| + | me to make it worth while dodging the law. I just manage to keep a | ||
| + | little of it around for old friends and men out of a dry country."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unless the gent that's setting them out takes something himself. It | ||
| + | ain't done that way in our part of the land," said Ronicky.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | boys, drink hearty."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | where we come from."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | strong? For my part I've drunk twenty times without having the gent | ||
| + | that set 'em up touch a thing. I reckon I can do it again. Here's | ||
| + | how!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in his voice that arrested the hand of Bill Gregg in the very act of | ||
| + | raising the glass.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | returning to the center table, poured a liberal drink of the whisky | ||
| + | into it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bewildered hotel keeper. "I dunno about him, but some gents feel so | ||
| + | strong about not drinking alone that they'd sooner fight. Well, sir, | ||
| + | I'm one of that kind. So I say, there' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gasping. His whole big body seemed to be wilting, as though in a | ||
| + | terrific heat. "I dunno!" | ||
| + | fellers. I tell you, I never drink."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | breath?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | confront his host by the side of Ronicky.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | heavily for air. "I—I may have taken a small tonic after dinner. In | ||
| + | fact, think I did. That's all. Nothing more, I assure you. I—I have | ||
| + | to be a sober man in my work."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fiercely than ever. "I ought to make you drink all three drinks for | ||
| + | being so slow about drinking one!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | would kill me!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | even one will be a sort of a shock, eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | drop of it, or we'll tie you and pry your mouth open and pour the | ||
| + | whole bottle down your throat. You understand?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | one frantic glance toward the door and a still more frantic appeal | ||
| + | centered on Ronicky Doone, but the face of the latter was as cold as | ||
| + | stone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | picked up his own drink.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | revolver. The fat man tossed off the glass of whisky and then stood | ||
| + | with a pudgy hand pressed against his breast and the upward glance of | ||
| + | one who awaits a calamity. Under the astonished eyes of Bill Gregg he | ||
| + | turned pale, a sickly greenish pallor. His eyes rolled, and his hand | ||
| + | on the table shook, and the arm that supported him sagged.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | choking—and—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | The step was uncompleted. In the middle of it he wavered, put out his | ||
| + | arms and slumped upon his side on the floor.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone knelt calmly beside the fallen bulk and felt the beating of his | ||
| + | heart.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | while. Now come along with me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | picked up his suit case and hurried after Ronicky.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone dropped his suit case and dived into a dark nook beside | ||
| + | the entrance. There was a brief struggle. He came out again, pushing | ||
| + | a skulking figure before him, with the man's arm twisted behind his | ||
| + | back.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | driver!" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | till we were fixed right now. What' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | white, scowling face of the taxi driver. The man was like a rat, but, | ||
| + | in spite of his fear, he did not make a sound.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | steps.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him headlong down. There was a crashing fall, groans and then silence.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | into the darkness, "but he'll live to trap somebody else, curse him!" | ||
| + | And, picking up their suit cases again, they started to retrace their | ||
| + | steps.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | until they had located a small hotel for themselves, not three blocks | ||
| + | away. It was no cheaper, but they found a pleasant room, clean and | ||
| + | with electric lights. It was not until they had bathed and were | ||
| + | propped up in their beds for a good-night smoke, which cow-punchers | ||
| + | love, that Bill Gregg asked: "And what gave you the tip, Ronicky?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Suppose you sit in at a five-handed game of poker. One gent says | ||
| + | everything with his face, while he's picking up his cards. Another | ||
| + | gent don't say a thing, but he shows what he's got by the way he moves | ||
| + | in his chair, or the way he opens and shuts his hands. When you said | ||
| + | something about our wad I seen the taxi driver blink. Right after that | ||
| + | he got terrible friendly and said he could steer us to a friend of his | ||
| + | that could put us up for the night pretty comfortable. Well, it wasn't | ||
| + | hard to put two and two together. Not that I figured anything out. | ||
| + | Just was walking on my toes, ready to jump in any direction."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shook his head and sighed. " | ||
| + | town if I didn't have you along, Ronicky," | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | guide you feel kind of helpless. But, when you step off for yourself, | ||
| + | everything is pretty easy. You just were waiting for me to take the | ||
| + | lead, or you'd have done just as much by yourself."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | York is like," he said, " | ||
| + | what they call a civilized town? Great guns, they need martial law and | ||
| + | a thousand policemen to the block to keep a gent's life and pocketbook | ||
| + | safe in this town! First gent we meet tries to bump us off or get our | ||
| + | wad. Don't look like we're going to have much luck, Ronicky."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | whole gang of taxi men are pretty sharp in the eye. What I mean is | ||
| + | that we can tramp up and down along this here East River, and now | ||
| + | and then we'll talk to some taxi men that do most of their work from | ||
| + | stands in them parts of the town. Maybe we can get on her trail that | ||
| + | way. Anyways, it's an opening."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I'm sure going to sleep with a gun under my head in this town!" With | ||
| + | this remark he settled himself for repose and presently was snoring | ||
| + | loudly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with Bill Gregg to tour along the East River. That first day Ronicky | ||
| + | insisted that they simply walk over the whole ground, so as to become | ||
| + | fairly familiar with the scale of their task. They managed to make the | ||
| + | trip before night and returned to the hotel, footsore from the hard, | ||
| + | hot pavements. There was something unkindly and ungenerous in those | ||
| + | pavements, it seemed to Ronicky. He was discovering to his great | ||
| + | amazement that the loneliness of the mountain desert is nothing at all | ||
| + | compared to the loneliness of the Manhattan crowd.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and went to bed early. But in the morning they began the actual work | ||
| + | of their campaign. It was an arduous labor. It meant interviewing in | ||
| + | every district one or two storekeepers, | ||
| + | for " | ||
| + | latter were the men, insisted Ronicky, who would eventually bring them | ||
| + | to Caroline Smith. " | ||
| + | that, they' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | know," Bill Gregg protested, after he had been gruffly refused an | ||
| + | answer a dozen times in the first morning.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | because they don't know. Take 'em by and large, most gents like to | ||
| + | tell everything they know, and then some!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | In spite of all their efforts to appear casual there was something | ||
| + | too romantic in this search for a girl to remain entirely unnoticed. | ||
| + | People whom they asked became excited and offered them a thousand | ||
| + | suggestions. Everybody, it seemed, had, somewhere, somehow, heard of a | ||
| + | Caroline Smith living in his own block, and every one remembered dimly | ||
| + | having passed a girl on the street who looked exactly like Caroline | ||
| + | Smith. But they went resolutely on, running down a thousand false | ||
| + | clues and finding at the end of each something more ludicrous than | ||
| + | what had gone before. Maiden ladies with many teeth and big glasses | ||
| + | they found; and they discovered, at the ends of the trails on which | ||
| + | they were advised to go, young women and old, ugly girls and pretty | ||
| + | ones, but never any one who in the slightest degree resembled Caroline | ||
| + | Smith.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | along the East River, from the slums to the better residence | ||
| + | districts. They bought newspapers at little stationery stores and | ||
| + | worked up chance conversations with the clerks, particularly girl | ||
| + | clerks, whenever they could find them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | girl like Caroline Smith came into the shop, she'd be remembered for a | ||
| + | while."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | they noticed the taxi stands along the East Side and worked them as | ||
| + | carefully as they could, and it was on the evening of the eleventh day | ||
| + | of the search that they reached the first clue.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eating place, and when they went inside they found the driver alone in | ||
| + | the restaurant. They worked up the conversation, | ||
| + | hundred times before. Gregg produced the picture and began showing it | ||
| + | to Ronicky.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | part of town." He took the picture and turned to the taxi driver.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | "Maybe you've been around this part of town and know the folks here.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ever see this girl around?" | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | looked up his face was a blank.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | day, waiting for the traffic to pass at Seventy-second and Broadway. | ||
| + | Yep, she sure was a ringer for this picture." | ||
| + | back, and a moment later he finished his meal, paid his check and went | ||
| + | sauntering through the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the check and come along. That fellow knows something."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the place. They were in time to see the taxicab lurch away from the | ||
| + | curb and go humming down the street, while the driver leaned out to | ||
| + | the side and looked back.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Caroline Smith. Come on!" He stepped out to the curb and stopped a | ||
| + | passing taxi. " | ||
| + | ordered.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | do that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | smoothly on the trail.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Second and Third Avenues, they passed, and on First Avenue they turned | ||
| + | and darted sharply south for a round dozen blocks, then went due east | ||
| + | and came, to a halt after a brief run.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | door. "If I run in there he'll see me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a word of praise for his fine trailing. Then he stepped around the | ||
| + | corner.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | three blocks long. It had the serene, detached air of a village a | ||
| + | thousand miles from any great city, with its grave rows of homely | ||
| + | houses standing solemnly face to face. Well to the left, the | ||
| + | Fifty-ninth Street Bridge swung its great arch across the river, and | ||
| + | it led, Ronicky knew, to Long Island City beyond, but here everything | ||
| + | was cupped in the village quiet.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right-hand side of the street, looking south, and, even as Ronicky | ||
| + | glanced around the corner, he saw the driver leave his seat, dart up a | ||
| + | flight of steps and ring the bell.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | talk, the chauffeur from the car they had pursued was allowed to | ||
| + | enter. And, as he stepped across the threshold, he drew off his cap | ||
| + | with a touch of reverence which seemed totally out of keeping with his | ||
| + | character as Ronicky had seen it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | those steps to that house?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | somebody in it who knows Caroline Smith, and that somebody is excited | ||
| + | because we're hunting for her," said Bill. "Maybe it holds Caroline | ||
| + | herself. Who can tell that? Let's go see."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Caroline he'd of told us. He doesn' | ||
| + | take it pretty much to heart if he knew we'd followed him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | packs, always. The best fighting pair of coyotes that ever stepped | ||
| + | wouldn' | ||
| + | stand off a dozen or so of the little devils. So keep clear of these | ||
| + | little rat-faced gents, Bill. They hunt in crowds."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | distance it could be seen that he was smiling broadly, and that he was | ||
| + | intensely pleased with himself and the rest of the world.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | York taxi drivers can, and sped down the street by the way he had | ||
| + | come, passing Gregg and Ronicky, who had flattened themselves against | ||
| + | the fence to keep from being seen. They observed that, while he | ||
| + | controlled the car with one hand, with the other he was examining the | ||
| + | contents of his wallet.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sight around the corner. "This begins to look pretty thick, Bill. | ||
| + | Because he goes and tells them that he's taken us off the trail they | ||
| + | not only thank him, but they pay him for it. And, by the face of him, | ||
| + | as he went by, they pay him pretty high. Bill, it's easy to figure | ||
| + | that they don't want any friend near Caroline Smith, and most like | ||
| + | they don't even want us near that house."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out if the girl is there."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | back. But he went on again resolutely and stamped up the steps to the | ||
| + | front door of the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | off. For a moment he was explaining. Then there was a pause in his | ||
| + | gestures, as she made the reply. Finally he spoke again, but was cut | ||
| + | short by the loud banging of the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | head. If a man had turned that trick on him, a .45-caliber slug would | ||
| + | have gone crashing through the door in search of him to teach him a | ||
| + | Westerner' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stump stiffly down the stairs, limping a little on his wounded leg, | ||
| + | and come back with a grave dignity to the starting point. He was still | ||
| + | crimson to the roots of his hair.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of murders in this here little town and getting myself hung."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | nice and polite if a lady named Caroline Smith was in the house? ' | ||
| + | says she, 'and if she was, what's that to you?' I told her I'd come a | ||
| + | long ways to see Caroline. 'Then go a long ways back without seeing | ||
| + | Caroline,' | ||
| + | in my face. Man, I'm still seeing red. Them words of the old woman | ||
| + | were whips, and every one of them sure took off the hide. I used to | ||
| + | think that old lady Moore in Martindale was a pretty nasty talker, but | ||
| + | this one laid over her a mile. But we're beat, Ronicky. You couldn' | ||
| + | get by that old woman with a thousand men."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | across the street and see a sign a while ago?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | street one of us is going to keep watch day and night, till we make | ||
| + | sure that Caroline Smith don't live in that house. Is that right?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wait till night and then go and get that room. If Caroline is in the | ||
| + | house yonder, and they know we're looking for her, it's easy that she | ||
| + | won't be allowed to come out the front of the house so long as we're | ||
| + | perched up at the window, waiting to see her. We'll come back tonight | ||
| + | and start waiting."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which they felt covered their quarry, could be secured, and they were | ||
| + | shown to it by a quiet old gentlewoman, | ||
| + | ran across the whole length of the house. From the back it looked down | ||
| + | on the lights glimmering on the black East River and across to the | ||
| + | flare of Brooklyn; to the left the whole arc of the Fifty-ninth Street | ||
| + | Bridge was exposed. In front the windows overlooked Beekman Place | ||
| + | and were directly opposite, the front of the house to which the taxi | ||
| + | driver had gone that afternoon.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eyes never moving from the street and the windows of the house across | ||
| + | the street; and then he left the post, and the other took it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the street lamp beneath them, and every person who dismounted from one | ||
| + | of them had to be scrutinized with painful diligence.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about ten o' | ||
| + | Ronicky caught his friend by the shoulders and dragged him to the | ||
| + | window. "There she is now!" he exclaimed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could not he deceived. The moment he caught her profile, as she turned | ||
| + | in opening the door, Bill Gregg shook his head. " | ||
| + | She's all different, a pile different, Ronicky."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I'll call you again if anything happens."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hours of the early morning they did not relax their vigil. But all the | ||
| + | next day there was still no sign of Caroline Smith in the house across | ||
| + | the street; no face like hers ever appeared at the windows. Apparently | ||
| + | the place was a harmless rooming house of fairly good quality. Not a | ||
| + | sign of Caroline Smith appeared even during the second day. By this | ||
| + | time the nerves of the two watchers were shattered by the constant | ||
| + | strain, and the monotonous view from the front window was beginning to | ||
| + | madden them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gone, and not a sign of her yet. It sure means that she ain't in that | ||
| + | house, unless she's sick in bed." And he grew pale at the thought.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from us they sure have the sense to keep her under cover for as long | ||
| + | as two days. Ain't that right? It looks pretty bad for us, but I'm | ||
| + | staying here for one solid week, anyway. It's just about our last | ||
| + | chance, Bill. We've done our hunting pretty near as well as we could. | ||
| + | If we don't land her this trip, I'm about ready to give up."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | play it to the limit. One week was decided on as a fair test. If, at | ||
| + | the end of that time, Caroline Smith did not come out of the house | ||
| + | across the street they could conclude that she did not stay there. And | ||
| + | then there would be nothing for it but to take the first train back | ||
| + | West.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unfaltering vigilance on the part of the two watchers. And on the | ||
| + | fifth morning even Ronicky Doone sat with his head in his hands at | ||
| + | the window, peering through the slit between the drawn curtains which | ||
| + | sheltered him from being observed at his spying. When he called out | ||
| + | softly, the sound brought Gregg, with one long leap out of the chair | ||
| + | where he was sleeping, to the window. There could be no shadow of a | ||
| + | doubt about it. There stood Caroline Smith in the door of the house!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | paused there and looked up and down the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky heard the brief thunder of his feet down the first flight of | ||
| + | stairs, then the heavy thumps, as he raced around the landing. He was | ||
| + | able to trace him down all the three flights of steps to the bottom.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | steps across the street, came onto the sidewalk, Bill Gregg rushed out | ||
| + | from the other side and ran toward her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | instant, the girl shrinking back in apparent fear of the man, and Bill | ||
| + | Gregg stopping by that same show of fear, as though by a blow in the | ||
| + | face. There was such a contrast between the two figures that Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone might have laughed, had he not been shaking his head with | ||
| + | sympathy for Bill Gregg.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his clothes seemed so unpressed and shapeless, while his soft gray | ||
| + | hat, to which he still clung religiously, | ||
| + | place in contrast with the slim prettiness of the girl. She wore a | ||
| + | black straw hat, turned back from her face, with a single big red | ||
| + | flower at the side of it; her dress was a tailored gray tweed. The | ||
| + | same distinction between their clothes was in their faces, the finely | ||
| + | modeled prettiness of her features and the big, careless chiseling of | ||
| + | the features of Bill Gregg.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was one of disdain and surprise.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | long black hair and made it wild. He went a long, slow step closer to | ||
| + | her, with both his hands outstretched.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | glance over her shoulder and back to the house from which she had just | ||
| + | come. Ronicky Doone followed that glance, and he saw, all hidden save | ||
| + | the profile of the face, a man standing at an opposite window and | ||
| + | smiling scornfully down at that picture in the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | who, in one instant, filled him with such fear and hatred, such | ||
| + | loathing and such dread, such scorn and such terror. The nose was | ||
| + | hooked like the nose of a bird of prey; the eyes were long and | ||
| + | slanting like those of an Oriental. The face was thin, almost | ||
| + | fleshless, so that the bony jaw stood out like the jaw of a | ||
| + | death' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | new terror. She shrank back from Bill Gregg until her shoulders were | ||
| + | almost pressed against the wall of the house. And Ronicky saw her head | ||
| + | shake, as she denied Bill the right of advancing farther. Still he | ||
| + | pleaded, and still she ordered him away. Finally Bill Gregg drew | ||
| + | himself up and bowed to her and turned on his heel.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fact that she had just driven Bill Gregg away, as if she were on | ||
| + | the verge of following him to bring him back. For she made a slight | ||
| + | outward gesture with one hand.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with a shudder and hurried away down the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | across the pavement, but it was the erectness of a soldier who has met | ||
| + | with a crushing defeat and only preserves an outward resolution, while | ||
| + | all the spirit within is crushed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | progress of Gregg up the stairs. What a contrast between the ascent | ||
| + | and the descent! He had literally flown down. Now his heels clumped | ||
| + | out a slow and regular death march, as he came back to the room.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | breath at the sight of the poor fellow' | ||
| + | that he truly loved this girl whom he had never seen, but he had never | ||
| + | dreamed what the strength of that love was. Now, in the very moment of | ||
| + | seeing his dream of the girl turned into flesh and blood, he had lost | ||
| + | her, and there was something like death in the face of the big miner | ||
| + | as he dropped his hat on the floor and sank into a chair.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which he had fallen limply. His legs were twisted awkwardly, sprawling | ||
| + | across the floor in front of him; one long arm dragged down toward the | ||
| + | floor, as if there was no strength in it to support the weight of the | ||
| + | labor-hardened hands; his chin was fallen against his breast.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he did not look up. " | ||
| + | hit the back trail and forget all about this." He added with a faint | ||
| + | attempt at cynicism: " | ||
| + | time from the mine, that's all."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to man, that you're a liar!" He added: "Can you ever be happy without | ||
| + | her, man?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was exactly what Ronicky Doone wanted.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | huskily.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the way things have gone! You start out with a photograph of a girl. | ||
| + | Now you've followed her, found her name, tracked her clear across the | ||
| + | continent and know her street address, and you've given her a chance | ||
| + | to see your own face. Ain't that something done? After you've done all | ||
| + | that are you going to give up now? Not you, Bill! You're going to buck | ||
| + | up and go ahead full steam. Eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rushing up and saying: ' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gent that was writing those papers to the correspondence school to you | ||
| + | from the West, the one you sent your picture to and—'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | under her feet. ' | ||
| + | her shoulder as much as to wish she was safe back in her house!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and how she acted. He's the gent that kept her from writing to you and | ||
| + | signing her name. He's the one who's kept her in that house. He's the | ||
| + | one that knew we were here watching all the time, that sent out the | ||
| + | girl with exact orders how she should act if you was to come out and | ||
| + | speak to her when you seen her! Bill, what that girl told you didn't | ||
| + | come out of her own head. It come out of the head of the gent across | ||
| + | the way. When you turned your back on her she looked like she'd run | ||
| + | after you and try to explain. But the fear of that fellow up in the | ||
| + | window was too much for her, and she didn't dare. Bill, to get at the | ||
| + | girl you got to get that gent I seen grinning from the window."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chair. "Was the skunk laughing at me?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hear, and I'll help, Bill. Unless I'm away wrong, it'll take the best | ||
| + | that you and me can do, working together, to put that gent down!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to make sure that he was really the power controlling Caroline Smith, | ||
| + | were problems which could not be solved in a moment.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her; now that we've seen her let's keep on waiting," | ||
| + | Ronicky agreed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | length of time that it was impossible to keep it as strictly as it had | ||
| + | been observed before. Bill Gregg, outworn by the strain of the long | ||
| + | watching and the shock of the disappointment of that day, went | ||
| + | completely to pieces and in the early evening fell asleep. But Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone went out for a light dinner and came back after dark, refreshed | ||
| + | and eager for action, only to find that Bill Gregg was incapable of | ||
| + | being roused. He slept like a dead man.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in the house opposite. They were out for the evening, or for dinner, | ||
| + | at least, and the face of the building was dark and cold, the light | ||
| + | from the street lamp glinting unevenly on the windowpanes. He had sat | ||
| + | there staring at the old house so many hours in the past that it was | ||
| + | beginning to be like a face to him, to be studied as one might study | ||
| + | a human being. And the people it sheltered, the old hag who kept the | ||
| + | door, the sneering man and Caroline Smith, were to the house like the | ||
| + | thoughts behind a man's face, an inscrutable face. But, if one cannot | ||
| + | pry behind the mask of the human, at least it is possible to enter a | ||
| + | house and find—</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pulse. Suppose he, alone, entered that house tonight by stealth, like | ||
| + | a burglar, and found what he could find?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the thing, and danger there certainly would be in the vicinity of | ||
| + | him of the sardonic profile, appealed to him more and more keenly. | ||
| + | Moreover, he must go alone. The heavy-footed Gregg would be a poor | ||
| + | helpmate on such an errand of stealth.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | more at the tall front of the building opposite; then he started to | ||
| + | get ready for the expedition.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | light and with rubber heels. In them he could move with the softness | ||
| + | and the speed of a cat. Next he dressed in a dark-gray suit, knowing | ||
| + | that this is the color hardest to see at night. His old felt hat he | ||
| + | had discarded long before in favor of the prevailing style of the | ||
| + | average New Yorker. For this night expedition he put on a cap which | ||
| + | drew easily over his ears and had a long visor, shadowing the upper | ||
| + | part of his face. Since it might be necessary to remain as invisible | ||
| + | as possible, he obscured the last bit of white that showed in his | ||
| + | costume, with a black neck scarf.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | obscured under the cap, a stern, resolute face, with a distinct threat | ||
| + | about it. He hardly recognized himself in the face in the glass.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a long and ponderous weapon to be hidden beneath his clothes, but to | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone that gun was a friend well tried in many an adventure. | ||
| + | His fingers went deftly over it. It literally fell to pieces at his | ||
| + | touch, and he examined it cautiously and carefully in all its parts, | ||
| + | looking to the cartridges before he assembled the weapon again. For, | ||
| + | if it became necessary to shoot this evening, it would be necessary to | ||
| + | shoot to kill.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | close scrutiny. A narrow, paved sidewalk ran between it and the house | ||
| + | on its right, and all the windows opening on this small court were | ||
| + | dark. Moreover, the house which was his quarry was set back several | ||
| + | feet from the street, an indentation which would completely hide him | ||
| + | from anyone who looked from the street. Ronicky made up his mind at | ||
| + | once. He went to the end of the block, crossed over and, turning back | ||
| + | on the far side of the street, slipped into the opening between the | ||
| + | houses.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | two buildings towered, shutting out the starlight. Looking straight up | ||
| + | he found only a faint reflection of the glow of the city lights in the | ||
| + | sky.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a little maneuvering with his knife enabled him to turn the catch at | ||
| + | the top of the lower sash. Then he raised it slowly and leaned into | ||
| + | the blackness. Something incredibly soft, tenuous, clinging, pressed | ||
| + | at once against his face. He started back with a shudder and brushed | ||
| + | away the remnants of a big spider web.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | head was in the opening the sense of listening, which is ever in a | ||
| + | house, came to him. There were the strange, musty, underground odors | ||
| + | which go with cellars and make men think of death.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this window was as bad as to be seen in the house itself. He slipped | ||
| + | through the opening at once, and beneath his feet there was a soft | ||
| + | crunching of coal. He had come directly into the bin. Turning, he | ||
| + | closed the window, for that would be a definite clue to any one who | ||
| + | might pass down the alley.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he grew somewhat accustomed to the dimness, and he could make out not | ||
| + | definite objects, but ghostly outlines. Presently he took out the | ||
| + | small electric torch which he carried and examined his surroundings.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | empty. He stepped out of it into a part of the basement which had been | ||
| + | used apparently for storing articles not worth keeping, but too good | ||
| + | to be thrown away—an American habit of thrift. Several decrepit | ||
| + | chairs and rickety cabinets and old console tables were piled together | ||
| + | in a tangled mass. Ronicky looked at them with an unaccountable | ||
| + | shudder, as if he read in them the history of the ruin and fall and | ||
| + | death of many an old inhabitant of this house. It seemed to his | ||
| + | excited imagination that the man with the sneer had been the cause of | ||
| + | all the destruction and would be the cause of more.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | musty odors and his gloomy thoughts. He found the storerooms, reached | ||
| + | the kitchen stairs and ascended at once. Halfway up the stairs, the | ||
| + | door above him suddenly opened and light poured down at him. He saw | ||
| + | the flying figure of a cat, a broom behind it, a woman behind the | ||
| + | broom.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | below; the woman of the broom shaded her eyes and peered down the | ||
| + | steps. "A queer cat!" she muttered, then slammed the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | knew that the blackness of the cellar had probably half blinded her. | ||
| + | Besides, he had drawn as far as possible to one side of the steps, and | ||
| + | in this way she might easily have overlooked him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | definitely blocked. He paused a moment to consider other plans, but, | ||
| + | while he stayed there in thought, he heard the rattle of pans. It | ||
| + | decided him to stay a while longer. Apparently she was washing the | ||
| + | cooking utensils, and that meant that she was near the close of her | ||
| + | work for the evening. In fact, the rim of light, which showed between | ||
| + | the door frame and the door, suddenly snapped out, and he heard her | ||
| + | footsteps retreating.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | something which she had forgotten. But the silence deepened above him, | ||
| + | and voices were faintly audible toward the front of the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hinges which kept it from making any noise, and let a shaft from his | ||
| + | pocket lantern flicker across the kitchen floor. The light glimmered | ||
| + | on the newly scrubbed surface and showed him a door to his right, | ||
| + | opening into the main part of the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | touched the carpet on the hall beyond. He noted, too, that there was | ||
| + | no sign of a creak from the boards beneath his tread. However old | ||
| + | that house might be, he was a noble carpenter who laid the flooring, | ||
| + | Ronicky thought, as he slipped through the semi-gloom. For there was | ||
| + | a small hall light toward the front, and it gave him an uncertain | ||
| + | illumination, | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and more what he could possibly gain by it. But still he went on, and, | ||
| + | in spite of the danger, it is doubtful if Ronicky would have willingly | ||
| + | changed places with any man in the world at that moment.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | floor of the house. He slipped down the shadow of the main stairs, | ||
| + | swiftly circled through the danger of the light of the lower hall lamp | ||
| + | and started his ascent. Still the carpet muffled every sound which | ||
| + | he made in climbing, and the solid construction of the house did not | ||
| + | betray him with a single creaking noise.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the room of the man who sneered—the archenemy, as Ronicky Doone was | ||
| + | beginning to think of him. A shiver passed through his lithe, muscular | ||
| + | body at the thought of that meeting.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and dust cloths and such things. Determining to be methodical he went | ||
| + | to the extreme end of the hall and tried that door. It was | ||
| + | locked, but, while his hand was still on the knob, turning it in | ||
| + | disappointment, | ||
| + | of voices passed out to him. They grew louder, they turned to the | ||
| + | staircase from the floor above and commenced to descend at a running | ||
| + | pace. Three or four men at least, there must be, by the sound, and | ||
| + | perhaps more!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but, just as he reached there, the party turned into the hall and | ||
| + | confronted him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | be among these fellows a man of the type of him who sneered, a bullet | ||
| + | would catch the fugitive long before he reached the bottom of the | ||
| + | staircase. And, since he could not retreat, Ronicky went slowly and | ||
| + | steadily ahead, for, certainly, if he stood still, he would be spoken | ||
| + | to. He would have to rely now on the very dim light in this hall and | ||
| + | the shadow of his cap obscuring his face. If these were roomers, | ||
| + | perhaps he would be taken for some newcomer.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | going up with Pete and get what he knows."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | overtaken by hurrying feet. The other two had already scurried down | ||
| + | toward the front door of the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | had overtaken him. "Come up and have a jolt, and we can have a talk. | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | eh? The old man always picks you for these singles; he never gives me | ||
| + | a shot at ' | ||
| + | the first hall, he stepped to the center of the room and fumbled at | ||
| + | a chain that broke loose and tinkled against glass; eventually he | ||
| + | snapped on an electric light. Ronicky Doone saw a powerfully built, | ||
| + | bull-necked man, with a soft hat pulled far down on his head. Then the | ||
| + | man turned.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | surprise, but necessity is a stern ruler. And the necessity which made | ||
| + | him strike made him hit with the speed of a snapping whiplash and the | ||
| + | weight of a sledge hammer. Before the other was fully turned that | ||
| + | iron-hard set of knuckles crashed against the base of his jaw.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his arms to break the weight of the fall. It was a complete knock-out. | ||
| + | The dull eyes, which looked up from the floor, saw nothing. The | ||
| + | square, rather brutal, face was relaxed as if in sleep, but here was | ||
| + | the type of man who would recuperate with great speed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could. In the man's coat pocket he found a handkerchief which, hard | ||
| + | knotted, would serve as a gag. The window curtain was drawn with a | ||
| + | stout, thick cord. Ronicky slashed off a convenient length of it and | ||
| + | secured the hands and feet of his victim, before he turned the fellow | ||
| + | on his face.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | now beginning to stir slightly, as life returned after that stunning | ||
| + | blow.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | between the men of this house. Here were three who apparently started | ||
| + | out to work at night, and yet they were certainly not at all the type | ||
| + | of night clerks or night-shift engineers or mechanics. He turned over | ||
| + | the hand of the man he had struck down. The palm was as soft as his | ||
| + | own.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | man." Who was he? And was there some relation between all of these and | ||
| + | the man who sneered?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the pockets of his victim. There was only one thing. That was a | ||
| + | stub-nosed, heavy automatic.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | not struck some peaceful, law-abiding fellow. Any man might carry a | ||
| + | gun—Ronicky himself would have been uncomfortable without some sort | ||
| + | of weapon about him but there are guns and guns. This big, ugly | ||
| + | automatic seemed specially designed to kill swiftly and surely.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky groaned. Had they come already to find out what kept the | ||
| + | senseless victim so long?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Smith herself, come to tap at the door when he was on the very verge | ||
| + | of abandoning the adventure. Suppose it were someone else?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | quite another person—well, | ||
| + | provocation, | ||
| + | exceedingly likely that she would rouse a number of men carrying just | ||
| + | such short-nosed, | ||
| + | the pocket of Harry Morgan.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the room was empty, for the light must be showing around the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out! The chief wants you!" And she rattled the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | on the floor, alarmed Ronicky. He came close to the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Morgan, as well as he could remember it.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his faithful Colt, and the feel of the butt was like the touch of a | ||
| + | friendly hand before he opened the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of the hall, and her hair glimmered, also, almost as if it possessed | ||
| + | a light and a life of its own. Ronicky Doone saw that she was a very | ||
| + | pretty girl, indeed. Yes, it must be Caroline Smith. The very perfume | ||
| + | of young girlhood breathed from her, and very sharply and suddenly he | ||
| + | wondered why he should be here to fight the battle of Bill Gregg in | ||
| + | this matter—Bill Gregg who slept peacefully and stupidly in the room | ||
| + | across the street!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "I don't know what's on, something big. The chief' | ||
| + | your big chance—with me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Pete is the top of the world, but that doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | a good imitation of him. Don't do it, Harry. You'll pass by yourself.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | You don't need a make-up, and not Pete's on a bet."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down was to face the mysterious chief whom he had no doubt was the old | ||
| + | man to whom Harry Morgan had already referred. In the meantime the | ||
| + | conviction grew that this was indeed Caroline Smith. Her free-and-easy | ||
| + | way of talk was exactly that of a girl who might become interested in | ||
| + | a man whom she had never seen, merely by letters.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | talk to you alone."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | lamp below gave Ronicky the faintest hint of her profile.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stopped by another thought. "I suppose he can wait, but, if he gets | ||
| + | stirred up about it—oh, we'll, I'll talk to you—but nothing foolish, | ||
| + | Harry. Promise me that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the hall, and he followed her through the door, working his mind | ||
| + | frantically in an effort to find words with which to open his speech | ||
| + | before she should see that he was not Harry Morgan and cry out to | ||
| + | alarm the house. What should he say? Something about Bill Gregg at | ||
| + | once, of course. That was the thing.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a dressing table, an Empire bed covered with green-figured silk, a | ||
| + | pleasant rug on the floor, and, just as he had gathered an impression | ||
| + | of delightful femininity from these furnishings, | ||
| + | the lamp on the dressing table, and he saw—not Caroline Smith, but a | ||
| + | bronze-haired beauty, as different from Bill Gregg' | ||
| + | from night.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and lips that parted on a word and froze there in silence. The heart | ||
| + | of Ronicky Doone leaped with joy; he had passed the crisis in safety. | ||
| + | She had not cried out.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hand go back to the dressing table and open, with incredible deftness | ||
| + | and speed, the little top drawer behind her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that table, lady, if you don't mind."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that he was in earnest, and that it would be foolish to tamper with | ||
| + | him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and there about the room, as though they sought some means of sending | ||
| + | a warning to her friends, or finding some escape for herself. Then her | ||
| + | glance returned to Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | controlled. He merely stared at her thoughtfully.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | somebody else."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she seemed to be forgetting the danger. "Poor Carry Smith with a | ||
| + | mob—" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | is I don't know," she said. "But I'll tell you this: I'm letting you | ||
| + | play as if you had all the cards in the deck. But you haven' | ||
| + | got one ace that' | ||
| + | happen to you, pal?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | anything in the world, almost." | ||
| + | pools of light flashing angrily at him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which his fame was growing so great in the mountain desert, came the | ||
| + | long, glimmering body of the revolver, and, holding it at the hip, he | ||
| + | threatened her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this man's handling of the weapon. The heavy gun balanced and steadied | ||
| + | in his slim fingers, as if it were no more than a feather' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | said. " | ||
| + | and Ronicky Doone set his teeth.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but the gun hung futile in his hand.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sneer. "But it takes nerve to use it. Let me through this door!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shoulder—and Ronicky gave way with a groan and stood with his head | ||
| + | bowed. Inwardly he cursed himself. Doubtless she was used to men who | ||
| + | bullied her, as if she were another man of an inferior sort. Doubtless | ||
| + | she despised him for his weakness. But, though he gritted his teeth, | ||
| + | he could not make himself firm. Those old lessons which sink into a | ||
| + | man's soul in the West came back to him and held him. In the helpless | ||
| + | rage which possessed him he wanted battle above all things in the | ||
| + | world. If half a dozen men had poured through the doorway he would | ||
| + | have rejoiced. But this one girl was enough to make him helpless.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the door slowly and stood with her back against it, staring at him in | ||
| + | a speechless bewilderment.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | can't stop you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stopping me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and I'll give you those two minutes. You can use them in getting out | ||
| + | of the house—I' | ||
| + | why you've come."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a trap d'you think he'd stop very long between a chance of getting | ||
| + | clear and a chance to tell how he come to get into the place?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you now get out of the house safely you'll try to come back later on."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she said, "I know you men are different. Not one of the men I know | ||
| + | here would take another chance as risky as this, once they were out of | ||
| + | it. But out there in the mountains you follow long trails, trails that | ||
| + | haven' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | You start out chipping rocks to find the right color; maybe you never | ||
| + | find the right color; maybe you never find a streak of pay stuff, but | ||
| + | you keep on trying. You're always just sort of around the corner from | ||
| + | making a big strike."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | seemed to Ronicky Doone. At first she had impressed him almost as a | ||
| + | man, with her cold, steady eyes, but now she was all woman, indeed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | failure. Am I right?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again—maybe I would come back."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shouldn' | ||
| + | help you. You—you are in love with Caroline?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hunting for her? What do you want with her?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | cards. Maybe you'll take what I say right to headquarters—the man | ||
| + | that smiles—and block my game."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | figure that you and Caroline Smith and everybody else in this house is | ||
| + | under the thumb of the gent that smiles."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I'm here trying to do. I'm not working for myself. I'm working for a | ||
| + | partner."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | street today?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | started after Caroline Smith, not even knowing her name—with just | ||
| + | a picture of her. We found out that she lived in sight of the East | ||
| + | River, and pretty soon we located her here."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what a pile Bill has done to get to her—and a lot of other things."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could talk better for a friend than he could talk for himself, I | ||
| + | figure. If things don't go right then I'll know that the trouble is | ||
| + | with the gent with the smile."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ain't no sign that I can't use it on a gent!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "Do what you want—take all the chances you care to—but, if you value | ||
| + | your life and the life of your friend, keep away from the man who | ||
| + | smiles."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | against him, I don't care how brave or how clever you are, you're | ||
| + | doomed!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | moment later she was shivering. It might have been the draft from the | ||
| + | window which made her gather the hazy-green mantle closer about her | ||
| + | and glance over her shoulder; but a grim feeling came to Ronicky Doone | ||
| + | that the reason why the girl trembled and her eyes grew wide, was that | ||
| + | the mention of "the man who smiles" | ||
| + | into the room like a breath of cold wind.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and the last time that I'm going to see you, so I can talk. I know | ||
| + | you're honest, and I know you're brave. Why, I can see your whole | ||
| + | character in the way you've stayed by your friend; and, if there' | ||
| + | possible way of helping you, I'll do it. But you must promise me first | ||
| + | that you'll never cross the man with the sneer, as you call him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I could promise. There' | ||
| + | to meet up with him one of these days."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | searching her mind to discover something which would finally and | ||
| + | completely convince him. At length she found it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | weak-kneed?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "And, outside of that, I suppose a girl will fight the hardest to | ||
| + | marry the gent she loves."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | keep from death?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | way."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and with dull, patient eyes she watched the face of Ronicky wrinkle | ||
| + | and grow pale, as if a heavy fist had struck him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | cold-eyed snake, that devil of a man?" He moved a little, and she | ||
| + | turned toward him, smiling faintly and allowing the light to come more | ||
| + | clearly and fully on her face. " | ||
| + | you got the queen in you—it' | ||
| + | the gent you can love, why, lady, he'll be pretty near the richest man | ||
| + | in the world!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | not alter, and she seemed to be hearing him from far away. "The man | ||
| + | with the sneer," | ||
| + | and still—I shall marry him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the gent with the smile was to keep going for two thousand, it'd never | ||
| + | come about that he could ever marry you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tonight and stuck my head in a trap, as you might say, for the sake of | ||
| + | a gent like Bill Gregg—fine fellow though he is—what d'you think I | ||
| + | would do to keep a girl like you from life-long misery?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | And it won't happen—it can't happen."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I and my affairs got to do with you? Who are you?"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of lost causes, lady. Why have I got something to do with you? I'll | ||
| + | tell you why: Because, when a girl gets past being just pretty and | ||
| + | starts in being plumb beautiful, she lays off being the business of | ||
| + | any one gent—her father or her brother—she starts being the business | ||
| + | of the whole world. You see? They come like that about one in ten | ||
| + | million, and I figure you're that one, lady."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sad wonder. "Do you know what I am?" she said gravely.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | It's the inside that matters, and the inside of you is all right.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Lady, so long as I can sling a gun, and so long as my name is Ronicky< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Doone, you ain't going to marry the gent with the smile."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what she said was: " | ||
| + | Then she smiled up at him. " | ||
| + | saying—But I won' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | back a little. " | ||
| + | going to tell him that Harry Morgan is not in his room, that he didn't | ||
| + | answer my knock, and then that I looked around through the house and | ||
| + | didn't find him. After that I'm coming back here, Ronicky Doone, and | ||
| + | I'm going to try to get an opportunity for you to talk to Caroline | ||
| + | Smith."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | asleep, but it's to give you a chance to finish this business and come | ||
| + | to the end of this trail and go back to your own country. Because, | ||
| + | if you stay around here long, there' | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone. Now stay here and wait for me. If anyone taps at the | ||
| + | door, you'd better slip into that closet in the corner. Will you | ||
| + | wait?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down to the quiet street with all its atmosphere of some old New | ||
| + | England village and eternal peace. It seemed impossible that in the | ||
| + | house behind him there were—</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | struggle rose. He ran to the door, thinking of Ruth Tolliver at once, | ||
| + | and then he shrank back again, for a door was slammed open, and a | ||
| + | voice shouted—the voice of a man: "Help! Harrison! Lefty! Jerry!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone knew that Harry Morgan, his victim, had at last recovered and | ||
| + | managed to work the cords off his feet or hands, or both.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | would mean a search, probably, this discovery that Morgan had been | ||
| + | struck down in his own room by an unknown intruder. And a search | ||
| + | certainly would be started at once. First there was confusion, and | ||
| + | then a clear, musical man's voice began to give orders: " | ||
| + | take the cellar. Lefty, go up to the roof. The rest of you take the | ||
| + | rooms one by one."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you don't know, shoot on sight, and shoot to kill. I'll do the | ||
| + | explaining to the police—you know that. Now scatter, and the man who | ||
| + | brings him down I'll remember. Quick!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the door of the girl's room, and he slipped into the closet. At once a | ||
| + | cloud of soft, cool silks brushed about him, and he worked back until | ||
| + | his shoulders had touched the wall at the back of the closet. Luckily | ||
| + | the enclosure was deep, and the clothes were hanging thickly from the | ||
| + | racks. It was sufficient to conceal him from any careless searcher, | ||
| + | but it would do no good if any one probed; and certainly these men | ||
| + | were not the ones to search carelessly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | To be found skulking among woman' | ||
| + | out and stuck in the back, no doubt, like a rat, and thrown into the | ||
| + | river, that was an end for Ronicky Doone indeed!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | door of the house and trying to escape by taking the men by surprise, | ||
| + | when he heard the door of the girl's room open.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | it at once as belonging to him who had given the orders. He | ||
| + | recognized, also, that it must be the man with the sneer.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | asked Ruth Tolliver.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and calm. Perhaps it was her face that betrayed emotion, for after a | ||
| + | moment of silence, the man answered.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | robber—Heaven knows what—running at large in the house?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | excited all at once. No, it's something else. I've trained you too | ||
| + | well for you to go to pieces like this over nothing. What is it, | ||
| + | Ruth?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gentle, so gentle and kindly that Ronicky Doone started. "In the old | ||
| + | days you used to keep nothing from me; we were companions, Ruth. That | ||
| + | was when you were a child. Now that you are a woman, when you feel | ||
| + | more, think more, see more, when our companionship should be like a | ||
| + | running stream, continually bringing new things into my life, I find | ||
| + | barriers between us. Why is it, my dear?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | quicken, as though the question had been asked him, as though he | ||
| + | himself were fumbling for the answer.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | me. There are things which you dislike in me; I know it. Just what | ||
| + | those things are I cannot tell, but we must break down these foolish | ||
| + | little barriers which are appearing more and more every day. Not | ||
| + | that I mean to intrude myself on you every moment of your life. You | ||
| + | understand that, of course?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | young womanhood, and that is a dreamy time for a girl. Her body is | ||
| + | formed at last, but her mind is only half formed. There is a pleasant | ||
| + | mist over it. Very well, I don't wish to brush the mist away. If I | ||
| + | did that I would take half that charm away from you—that elusive | ||
| + | incompleteness which Fragonard and Watteau tried to imitate, Heaven | ||
| + | knows with how little success. No, I shall always let you live your | ||
| + | own life. All that I ask for, my dear, are certain meeting places. Let | ||
| + | us establish them before it is too late, or you will find one day that | ||
| + | you have married an old man, and we shall have silent dinners. There | ||
| + | is nothing more wretched than that. If it should come about, then you | ||
| + | will begin to look on me as a jailer. And—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | truth. You are shrinking from me, Ruth, because you feel that I am too | ||
| + | old."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | they have come to talk about their cleverness, like a rooster crowing | ||
| + | over a grain of corn." He raised his voice. "Come in!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | got him!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | "Go ahead."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | through the side window and closed it after him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shoes?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with satisfaction. "You followed his trail?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | room."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | held a light close to the carpet and got the signs of it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | door of the closet, his hand on the knob. The time had almost come for | ||
| + | one desperate attempt to escape, and he was ready to shoot to kill.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky, was filled with the approach of both the men toward the door | ||
| + | of the closet.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | been here for some time. Go back and tell them to hunt some more. Go | ||
| + | up to the attic and search there. That's the place an amateur would | ||
| + | most likely hide."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him, while Ronicky Doone breathed freely again for the first time.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | easily? Had he sent his follower away, merely to avoid having it known | ||
| + | that a man had taken shelter in the room of the girl he loved?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | somebody you met somewhere—on the train, perhaps, and you couldn' | ||
| + | help smiling at him, eh? You smiled so much, in fact, that he followed | ||
| + | you and found that you had come here. The only way he could get in | ||
| + | was by stealth. Is that right? So he came in exactly that way, like a | ||
| + | robber, but really only to keep a tryst with his lady love? A pretty | ||
| + | story, a true romance! I begin to see why you find me such a dull | ||
| + | fellow, my dear girl."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you and spare your blushes. When I sent you for Harry Morgan you found | ||
| + | Lochinvar in the very act of slugging the poor fellow. You helped him | ||
| + | tie Morgan; then you took him here to your room; although you were | ||
| + | glad to see him, you warned him that it was dangerous to play with | ||
| + | fire—fire being me. Do I gather the drift of the story fairly well? | ||
| + | Finally you have him worked up to the right pitch. He is convinced | ||
| + | that a retreat would be advantageous, | ||
| + | it is possible. You point out the ledge under your window and the easy | ||
| + | way of working to the ground. Eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | have guessed he left the house. In that case—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | time. Now he pushed it open and stepped out. He was only barely in | ||
| + | time, for the man of the sneer was turning quickly in his direction, | ||
| + | since there was only one hiding place in the room.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | held at the hip and covering him with absolute certainty. Ruth | ||
| + | Tolliver did not cry out, but every muscle in her face and body seemed | ||
| + | to contract, as if she were preparing herself for the explosion.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at the familiarity of the face of the man of the sneer. He had brooded | ||
| + | on it so often in the past few days that it was like the face of an | ||
| + | old acquaintance. He knew every line in that sharp profile.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | coldly: "I congratulate you on your good taste. A regular Apollo, my | ||
| + | dear Ruth."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | entire conversation?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at eavesdropping. I couldn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | last, " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | other. "What do you think about it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about what a terrible fellow I am. But I don't use poison, and I | ||
| + | don't kill with mysterious X-rays. I am, as you see, a very quiet and | ||
| + | ordinary sort."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | replied in his own soft voice. "Just stay away from the walls of the | ||
| + | room—don' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and a contemptuous and sardonic expression flitted across his face for | ||
| + | the first time.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you like a snake, stranger, which I mostly think you are. So step | ||
| + | light, and step quick when I talk."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | He turned a little to Ruth. "I see that you have a most determined | ||
| + | cavalier. I suppose he'll instantly abduct you and sweep you away from | ||
| + | beneath my eyes?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Now tell me the story of why you came to this house; of course it | ||
| + | wasn't to see a girl!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | suspicious rage.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eyes of John Mark. " | ||
| + | heartily, but there was a tremor of emotion in that laughter. The | ||
| + | perfect torture, which had been wringing the soul of the man of the | ||
| + | sneer, projected through the laughter.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | guessed. You found him; he confessed why he was here; you took pity on | ||
| + | him—and—" | ||
| + | himself, calm and cool.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to make up for it. Now what about Caroline? There seems to be a whole | ||
| + | host of you Westerners annoying her."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | go down with me—leave this house—and take a ride or a walk with me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | here?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you all the time."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her to go to Bill Gregg?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | is, Ronicky Doone! I send for the girl; I request her to go down with | ||
| + | you to the street and take a walk, because you wish to talk to her. | ||
| + | Heavens, man, I can't persuade her to go with a stranger at night! | ||
| + | Surely you see that!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rest idle and let you walk away with her?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ask no favors. Let your men come on. All I got to say is that I come | ||
| + | from a county where every man wears a gun and has to learn how to use | ||
| + | it. I ain't terrible backward with the trigger finger, John Mark. Not | ||
| + | that I figure on bragging, but I want you to pick good men for my | ||
| + | trail and tell 'em to step soft. Is that square?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | call by way of a cellar window, I think you are the soul of honor, | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone. Now may I sit down?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for Caroline Smith; I'm to do the persuading to get her out of the | ||
| + | house. We're safe to the doors of the house; the minute we step into | ||
| + | the street, you're free to do anything you want to get either of us. | ||
| + | Will you shake on that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | extended hand of Ronicky Doone and clamped down on them like so many | ||
| + | steel wires contracting. At the same time a flush of excitement and | ||
| + | fierceness passed over the face of John Mark. Ronicky Doone, taken | ||
| + | utterly by surprise, was at a great disadvantage. Then he put the | ||
| + | whole power of his own hand into the grip, and it was like iron | ||
| + | meeting iron. A great rage came in the eyes of John Mark; a great | ||
| + | wonder came in the eyes of the Westerner. Where did John Mark get his | ||
| + | sudden strength?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | please! Sit down, leave the room—anything." | ||
| + | in his clothes. That brought a start from John Mark and a flash of | ||
| + | eagerness, but he repressed the idea, after a single glance at the | ||
| + | girl.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | full extent of the meaning of that act. "Very well, Ronicky, I'll send | ||
| + | for Caroline Smith, and more power to your tongue, but you'll never | ||
| + | get her away from this house without force."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she's wanted in Miss Tolliver' | ||
| + | servant disappeared, | ||
| + | then he cast a sharp glance to the side and scrutinized the face | ||
| + | of Ronicky Doone. With Ruth's permission, the latter had lighted a | ||
| + | cigarette and was smoking it in bland enjoyment. Again the leader | ||
| + | paused directly before the girl, and, with his feet spread and his | ||
| + | head bowed in an absurd Napoleonic posture, he considered every | ||
| + | feature of her face. The uncertain smile, which came trembling on her | ||
| + | face, elicited no response from Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she had a certain affection for him, partly as the result of many | ||
| + | benefactions, | ||
| + | all, she respected his powers of mind intensely. The play of emotion | ||
| + | in her face—fear, | ||
| + | before her, was a study.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | continually sought him, timidly, curiously. All vanity aside, he had | ||
| + | dropped a bomb under the feet of John Mark, and some day the bomb | ||
| + | might explode.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a dressing gown. She smiled brightly at Ruth and wanly at John Mark, | ||
| + | then started at the sight of the stranger.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stroll with him, so that he can talk to you about that curious fellow, | ||
| + | Bill Gregg. He is going to try to soften your heart, I believe, by | ||
| + | telling you all the inconveniences which Bill Gregg has endured to | ||
| + | find you here. But he will do his talking for himself. Just why he has | ||
| + | to take you out of the house, at night, before he can talk to you is, | ||
| + | I admit, a mystery to me. But let him do the persuading."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | had been presented in such a way as to make his task of persuasion | ||
| + | almost impossible. Then he turned back and looked at the girl. Her | ||
| + | face was a little pale, he thought, but perfectly composed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | talk to you, Mr. Doone, but why not here?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | apparently to see if she had spoken correctly. It was obvious that the | ||
| + | leader was pleased, and she glanced back at Ronicky, with a flush of | ||
| + | pleasure.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | sneer" | ||
| + | so—" | ||
| + | yourself. You feel him around you and behind you and beside you | ||
| + | every minute, and you keep wondering not what you really feel about | ||
| + | anything, but what John Mark wants you to feel. Ain't that the | ||
| + | straight of it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | move to resent this assertion, she looked again with wide-eyed wonder | ||
| + | at Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | friend from the West has a child-like faith in my powers of—what | ||
| + | shall I say—hypnotism!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she regarded Ronicky, with an utter lack of emotion.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wouldn' | ||
| + | lingo—I ain't got a lot of words all ready and handy. I'm a pretty | ||
| + | simple-minded sort of a gent, Miss Smith. That's why I want to get you | ||
| + | out of this house, where I can talk to you alone."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | nothing I can say except to ask you to look at me close, lady, and | ||
| + | then ask yourself if I'm the sort of a gent a girl has got anything to | ||
| + | be afraid about. I won't keep you long; five minutes is all I ask. And | ||
| + | we can walk up and down the street, in plain view of the house, if you | ||
| + | want. Is it a go?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was looking at him now, with a shade of interest and sympathy, but she | ||
| + | shook her head.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pretty hard to get a chance to meet you, face to face. I busted into | ||
| + | this house tonight like a burglar—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | aghast.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I was fighting for the chance to find you and talk to you. Give me | ||
| + | that chance now."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this handsome, boyish fellow should come as an emissary from Bill | ||
| + | Gregg. It was more curious still that he should have had the daring | ||
| + | and the strength to beat Harry Morgan.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but she raised her head bravely. "If I were you, Caroline," | ||
| + | steadily, " | ||
| + | you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | excitement. Certainly, if clean honesty was ever written in the face | ||
| + | of a man, it stood written in the clear-cut features of Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | street—in full view of the house."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and glided across the room, as if to go and vent his anger elsewhere. | ||
| + | But he checked and controlled himself at the door, then turned.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you, Caroline, I want you constantly to remember that—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | your help."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Plainly he had been hard hit. "Later on," he continued, " | ||
| + | more of each other, I expect—a great deal more, Doone."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | more than one little thing to talk over with you, Mark. Maybe about | ||
| + | some of them we'll have to do more than talking. Good-by. Lady, I'll | ||
| + | be waiting for you down by the front door of the house."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ruth Tolliver for direction, then hurried out to her room to dress.< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky Doone turned back to Ruth.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | know sort of casual, and some gents we have for friends. Once in a | ||
| + | while you bump into somebody that's so straight and square-shooting | ||
| + | that you'd like to have him for a partner. If you were out West, lady, | ||
| + | and if you were a man—well, I'd pick you for a partner, because | ||
| + | you've sure played straight and square with me tonight."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | touched it to his lips, then hurried past John Mark and through the | ||
| + | doorway. They could hear his rapid footfalls descending the stairs, | ||
| + | and John Mark was thoughtful indeed. He was watching Ruth Tolliver, | ||
| + | as she stared down at her hand. When she raised her head and met the | ||
| + | glance of the leader she flushed slowly to the roots of her hair.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | half hour than any other dozen men in ten years."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | then Ronicky Doone heard a swift pattering of feet on the stairs. | ||
| + | Presently the girl was moving very slowly toward him down the hall. | ||
| + | Plainly she was bitterly afraid when she came beside him, under the dim | ||
| + | hall light. She wore that same black hat, turned back from her white | ||
| + | face, and the red flower beside it was a dull, uncertain blur. Decidedly | ||
| + | she was pretty enough to explain Bill Gregg' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | murmuring something about a change of mind, when he opened the door and, | ||
| + | stepping out into the starlight, invited her with a smile and a gesture | ||
| + | to follow. In a moment they were in the freshness of the night air. He | ||
| + | took her arm, and they passed slowly down the steps. At the bottom she | ||
| + | turned and looked anxiously at the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to walk right up and down this street and never get out of sight of the | ||
| + | friends you got in this here house."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | want to go farther of your own free will."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | cow-puncher, | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out too long."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Bill has told me pretty much everything that ever went on between you | ||
| + | two. All about the correspondence-school work and about the letters and | ||
| + | about the pictures."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | not heard her. "You know what he's done with that picture of yours?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | it beaten out into the right shape, and then he made a locket out of it | ||
| + | and put your picture in it, and now he wears it around his neck, even | ||
| + | when he's working at the mine."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to be a very sphinx with this strange Westerner.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | then cross the continent together and get on the trail of a girl whose | ||
| + | name they didn't even know. They found the girl, and then she said she'd | ||
| + | forgotten—but no, I don't mean to blame you. There' | ||
| + | behind it all. But I want to explain one thing. The reason that Bill | ||
| + | didn't get to that train wasn't because he didn't try. He did try. He | ||
| + | tried so hard that he got into a fight with a gent that tried to hold | ||
| + | him up for a few words, and Bill got shot off his hoss."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | recovered herself at once and drew away, eluding the hand of Ronicky. He | ||
| + | made no further attempt to detain her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | too, knew that the secret was discovered. It angered her and threw her | ||
| + | instantly on the aggressive.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down to the street, all prepared to meet up with poor old Bill—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could I ever guess—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky diplomatically kept his attention straight ahead.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | guess for you. Someone who pretty well knew we were in town, who wanted | ||
| + | to keep you away from Bill because he was afraid—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | is too good for any man. But, if any man ought to have her, it's the | ||
| + | gent that is fondest of her. And Bill is terrible fond of you, lady—he | ||
| + | don't think of nothing else. He's grown thin as a ghost, longing for | ||
| + | you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | it?" she demanded, between anger and sadness.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | knew Bill would give up without a fight."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | besides, he can't talk about himself. He's no good at that at all. But, | ||
| + | if it comes to fighting, lady, why, he rode a couple of hosses to death | ||
| + | and stole another and had a gunfight, all for the sake of seeing you, | ||
| + | when a train passed through a town."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of things, the way I knew Bill wouldn' | ||
| + | don't mean nothing much to you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | West? Do they do so much for their friends?"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shoulder, they ain't nothing too good to be done for him. What I'd do | ||
| + | for him he'd do mighty pronto for me, and what he'd do for me—well, | ||
| + | don't you figure that he'd do ten times as much for the girl he loves? | ||
| + | Be honest with me," said Ronicky Doone. "Tell me if Bill means anymore | ||
| + | to you than any stranger?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from him. You've sent him your picture, and he's sent you his, and | ||
| + | you've seen him on the street. Lady, you sure know Bill Gregg, and what | ||
| + | do you think of him?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her, through thick and thin?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | trembled, and her eyes told him to go on.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him just about the same as he loves you!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to it that old Bill will let loose all holds and start for you, and, if | ||
| + | they's ten brick walls and twenty gunmen in between, it won't make no | ||
| + | difference. He'll find you, or die trying."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | face will be worse than twenty gunmen."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Bill. I seen you in the street, when you were talking to poor Bill, look | ||
| + | back over your shoulder at that devil standing in the window of this | ||
| + | house."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | against him—not a chance, Ronicky Doone. I don't know what you did in | ||
| + | the house, but I think you must have outfaced him in some way. Well, for | ||
| + | that you'll pay, be sure! And you'll pay with your life, Ronicky. Every | ||
| + | minute, now, you're in danger of your life. You'll keep on being in | ||
| + | danger, until he feels that he has squared his account with you. Don't | ||
| + | you see that if I let Bill Gregg come near me—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | spite of the fact that you like Bill—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | "I do love him, and I can never see him to tell him, because I dread< | ||
| + | |||
| + | John Mark."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | get to you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unhappy."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Place again and turned into it and went straight toward the house | ||
| + | opposite that of John Mark. Still the girl argued, but it was in a | ||
| + | whisper, as if she feared that terrible John Mark might overhear.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | They had gone down to the lower floor of the house, and, at his request, | ||
| + | she sat at the piano, while Mark sat comfortably beyond the sphere of | ||
| + | the piano light and watched her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | abominably."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | who doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | angry, and that familiar chill passed through her body. It never failed | ||
| + | to come when she felt that she had aroused his anger.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | youngster. She knows how to let a man talk till his throat is dry, and | ||
| + | then she'll smile and tell him that it's impossible to agree with him. | ||
| + | Yes, there are many possibilities in Caroline."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he had said earlier.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the muscles around his mouth. "A gambler has a certain way of masking | ||
| + | his own face and looking at yours, as if he were dragging your thoughts | ||
| + | out through your eyes; also, he's very cool; he belongs at a table with | ||
| + | the cards on it and the stakes high."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | matter. Has she come back, Rose?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | voice was uncertain, almost to the point of trembling. " | ||
| + | to say, "she ain't come back, chief."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and lighted a smoke. " | ||
| + | violent than the smooth voice, "well, idiot, what did she do?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with that other gent."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | after him. John Mark stood up and paced quietly up and down the room. At | ||
| + | length he turned abruptly on the girl. "Good night. I have business that | ||
| + | takes me out."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at all. "In the old days," he said at last, "when a man caught a poacher | ||
| + | on his grounds, do you know what he did?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | more than that—far more, this poacher out of the West!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the girl buried her face in her hands.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | before the door of his room, with the trembling girl beside him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | up. It's going to be the greatest moment in his life! Poor Bill Gregg is | ||
| + | going to turn into the richest man in New York City—all in one moment!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in your heart of hearts, you don't want to turn back, you know!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Under the biting grip of Doone' | ||
| + | posture, with a groan. Still he was in the throes of his dream and only | ||
| + | half awakened.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her. She's at the door now, waiting to come in."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | friend a man ever had, but, if you make a joke out of her, I'll wring | ||
| + | your neck!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | open the door."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | automatically. He stumbled into his clothes and then shambled dizzily to | ||
| + | the door and opened it. As the light from the room struck down the hall | ||
| + | Ronicky saw his friend stiffen to his full height and strike a hand | ||
| + | across his face.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ain't over!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rose the forbidding face of the house of John Mark, and it threatened | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone like a clenched hand, brandished against him. The shadow | ||
| + | under the upper gable was like the shadow under a frowning brow. In that | ||
| + | house worked the mind of John Mark. Certainly Ronicky Doone had won the | ||
| + | first stage of the battle between them, but there was more to come—much | ||
| + | more of that battle—and who would win in the end was an open question. | ||
| + | He made up his mind grimly that, whatever happened, he would first ship | ||
| + | Bill Gregg and the girl out of the city, then act as the rear guard to | ||
| + | cover their retreat.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | one another, with such shining eyes that the heart of Ronicky Doone | ||
| + | leaped. If, for a moment, doubt of his work came to him, it was | ||
| + | banished, as they glanced toward him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | is—done! Bless you, Ronicky."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her own mind, but that seems to be over."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | have confessed herself. She had the clear brow of a child. Suddenly, it | ||
| + | seemed to Ronicky that he had become an old man, and these were two | ||
| + | children under his protection. He struck into the heart of the problem | ||
| + | at once.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | we can. Out West in Bill's country he can take care of you, but back | ||
| + | here this John Mark is a devil and has the strength to stop us. How | ||
| + | quick can you go, Caroline?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | matter how husky John Mark may be, we'll get at him!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her wistful and misty eyed. "You don't understand, and I can't tell you. | ||
| + | You can never harm John Mark."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the time? Even if he has they's ways of getting at him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | help. He's never failed. That's what they say of him: 'John Mark, the | ||
| + | man who has never lost!'"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | around and gapes at this gent with the sneer a terrible lot, without a | ||
| + | pile of good reasons behind 'em. Never failed? Why, lady, here's one | ||
| + | night when he's failed and failed bad. He's lost you!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to him?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she leaves you, Mark will start on your trail. Mark is the name of the | ||
| + | gent with the sneer, Bill."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Bill."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but against John Mark I know that you're helpless. It isn't the first | ||
| + | time people have hated him. Hated? Who does anything but hate him? But | ||
| + | that doesn' | ||
| + | why I've come to you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky Doone bowed his head.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | since I first began writing to you. All of yourself showed through your | ||
| + | letters, plain and strong and simple and true. I've come tonight to tell | ||
| + | you that I love you, but that we can never marry. Not that I fear him | ||
| + | for myself, but for you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | been able to accuse him of a single illegal act—at least no one has | ||
| + | ever been able to prove a thing. And yet he lives by crime. Does that | ||
| + | give you an idea of the sort of man he is?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you? Can you tell us?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you take my word for it and ask no more?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | being Bill's friend, I have a right, too."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gent out of the West says ' | ||
| + | What you do may be bad; what you are is all right. We both know it. The | ||
| + | inside of you is right, lady, no matter what John Mark makes you do. But | ||
| + | tell us straight, what is it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | And he himself waited, curious to see what the big fellow would do. He | ||
| + | had not long to wait. Gregg went straight to the girl and took her | ||
| + | hands.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to my friend Ronicky. There' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | grateful I am to you both for still trusting me. I have a brother. He | ||
| + | came to New York to work, found it was easy to spend money—and spent | ||
| + | it. Finally he began sending home for money. We are not rich, but we | ||
| + | gave him what we could. It went on like that for some time. Then, one | ||
| + | day, a stranger called at our house, and it was John Mark. He wanted to | ||
| + | see me, and, when we talked together, he told me that my brother had | ||
| + | done a terrible thing—what it was I can't tell even you.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | proofs. At last I believed enough to agree to go to New York and see for | ||
| + | myself. I came here, and saw my brother and made him confess. What it | ||
| + | was I can't tell you. I can only say that his life is in the hand of | ||
| + | John Mark. John Mark has only to say ten words, and my brother is dead. | ||
| + | He told me that. He showed me the hold that Mark had over him, and | ||
| + | begged me to do what I could for him. I didn't see how I could be of use | ||
| + | to him, but John Mark showed me. He taught me to steal, and I have | ||
| + | stolen. He taught me to lie, and I have lied. And he has me still in the | ||
| + | hollow of his hand, do you see? And that's why I say that it's hopeless. | ||
| + | Even if you could fight against John Mark, which no one can, you | ||
| + | couldn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | Mark. Tell him that you came over here. Tell him that you seen Bill | ||
| + | Gregg, but you only came to say good-by to him, and to ask him to leave | ||
| + | town and go West. Then, tomorrow, we'll move out, and he may think that | ||
| + | we've gone. Meantime the thing you do is to give me the name of your | ||
| + | brother and tell me where I can find him. I'll hunt him up. Maybe | ||
| + | something can be done for him. I dunno, but that's where we've got to | ||
| + | try."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but look at all that he's done? Do what he says, Caroline."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | put in the power of John Mark, but I trust you. Give me a slip of paper, | ||
| + | and I'll write on it what you want."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pavement and glanced warily about her. The street was empty, quieter and | ||
| + | more villagelike than ever, yet she knew perfectly well that John Mark | ||
| + | had not allowed her to be gone so long without keeping watch over her. | ||
| + | Somewhere from the blank faces of those houses across the street his | ||
| + | spies kept guard over her movements. Here she glanced sharply over her | ||
| + | shoulder, and it seemed to her that a shadow flitted into the door of a | ||
| + | basement, farther up the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the house of Mark. Since all was quiet, up and down the street, she | ||
| + | paused again, her hand upon the knob. To enter meant to step back into | ||
| + | the life which she hated. There had been a time when she had almost | ||
| + | loved the life to which John Mark introduced her; there had been a time | ||
| + | when she had rejoiced in the nimbleness of her fingers which had enabled | ||
| + | her to become an adept as a thief. And, by so doing, she had kept the | ||
| + | life of her brother from danger, she verily believed. She was still | ||
| + | saving him, and, so long as she worked for John Mark, she knew that her | ||
| + | brother was safe, yet she hesitated long at the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tell him that she could not and dared not stay longer with the master | ||
| + | criminal, and beg him to take her West to a clean life. Her hand fell | ||
| + | from the knob, but she raised it again immediately.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | over her brother. If Ronicky Doone, as he promised, was able to inspire | ||
| + | her brother with the courage to flee from New York, give up his sporting | ||
| + | life and seek refuge in some far-off place, then, indeed, she would go | ||
| + | with Bill Gregg to the ends of the earth and mock the cunning fiend who | ||
| + | had controlled her life so long.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | feel that she had only visited Bill Gregg in order to say farewell to | ||
| + | him. With this in her mind she opened the front door and stepped into | ||
| + | the hall, always lighted with ominous dimness. That gloom fell about her | ||
| + | like the visible presence of John Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Harry Morgan, and the side of his face was swathed in bandages, so that | ||
| + | he had to twist his mouth violently in order to speak.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | information from the henchman.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what I know? You beat it, and he'll tell you what he wants."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the workings of the chief' | ||
| + | of the gang, and the men had whistled attendance on her hardly less than | ||
| + | upon Ruth Tolliver herself. This sudden harshness in the language of | ||
| + | Harry Morgan told her that too much was known, or guessed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Harry Morgan who had sauntered over to the front door.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | repeated and put her hand on the knob of the door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | lip enough from you, kid. Your day's over. Go up and see what the chief | ||
| + | has to say, but you ain't going through this door unless you walk over | ||
| + | me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | cold.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | decided to try the effect of one personal appeal. Nerving herself she | ||
| + | whirled and ran to Harry Morgan. " | ||
| + | till I've worked up my courage. You know he's terrible to face when he's | ||
| + | angry. And I'm afraid, Harry—I' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | medicine like the rest of us have done, time and time running."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the master thief. There she gave the accustomed rap with the proper | ||
| + | intervals. Instantly the cold, soft voice, which she knew and hated so, | ||
| + | called to her to enter.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | deep easy-chair; a dressing gown of silk and a pair of horn-rimmed | ||
| + | spectacles gave him a look of owlish wisdom, with a touch of the owl's | ||
| + | futility of expression, likewise. He rose, as usual, with all his | ||
| + | courtesy. She thought at first, as he showed her to a chair, that he was | ||
| + | going to take his usual damnable tack of pretended ignorance in order to | ||
| + | see how much she would confess. However, tonight this was not his plan | ||
| + | of battle.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to hers and sat down, leaning far forward. "Now, my dear, foolish girl," | ||
| + | said the master thief, smiling benevolently upon her, "what have you | ||
| + | been doing tonight to make us all miserable?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | first to the last. It gave her firmness to tell the lie with suavity. | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this time? It was only to take five minutes, I thought."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | John."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | done, I hope to know him very well indeed."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | continent—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | will they? Not for a girl, I mean."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | go across and see Bill Gregg."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | much as if Ronicky Doone himself were telling me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | it well. She could not find the double meaning that must have been | ||
| + | behind his words. "I went there, however," | ||
| + | sorry for him, John. If you had seen you'd have been sorry, too, or else | ||
| + | you would have laughed; I could hardly keep from it at first."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | come."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the letters I wrote him were simply written for fun, when I was doing | ||
| + | some of my cousin' | ||
| + | thing he could do would be to take my regrets and go back to the West."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | very hard."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | up and gave me a lecture about deceiving men."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | help feeling some interest."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | foolish fellow that I gave orders for him to be put out of the way, as | ||
| + | soon as you left him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you haven' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | serve you the rest of my life without question. I'll never fail you, | ||
| + | John, but for your own sake and mine, for the sake of everything fair in | ||
| + | the world, call him back!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this way," he said coldly. "You told a very good lie, Caroline. I | ||
| + | suppose clever Ronicky Doone rehearsed you in it, but it needed only the | ||
| + | oldest trick in the world to expose you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | John? Thank Heaven for that!"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | surface, now broke out in him, making the muscles of his face tense and | ||
| + | his voice metallic. "Get to your room," he said fiercely, "get to your | ||
| + | room. I've wasted time enough on you and your brat of a brother, and now | ||
| + | a Western lout is to spoil what I've done? I've a mind to wash my hands | ||
| + | of all of you—and sink you. Get to your room, and stay there, while I | ||
| + | make up my mind which of the two I shall do."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | trembling with rage.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | man of the sneer struck down her arms and laughed in her face. In mute | ||
| + | terror she fled to her room.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | toward the ceiling. Now and then he paused to slap Ronicky Doone on the | ||
| + | back.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | up and finding the girl that you've loved and lost standing waiting for | ||
| + | you! It's the dead come to life. I'm the happiest man in the world. | ||
| + | Ronicky, old boy, one of these days I'll be able—" | ||
| + | by the solemnity of Doone' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | if to bring back the circulation to numbed limbs.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | rounded body, alive with playing muscles, was striped, here and there, | ||
| + | with white streaks—scars left by healed wounds.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and then he saw the exposed scars and gasped. "How come, Ronicky," | ||
| + | asked huskily in his astonishment, | ||
| + | dead yet?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I'm a lucky gent, Bill Gregg."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | partner. A gent gets pretty good with a gun, then they say he's the best | ||
| + | that ever breathed—that he's never been beat. But they forget things | ||
| + | that happened just a year back. No, sir; I sure took my lickings when I | ||
| + | started."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you can lay to that!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Hated to think of having a gent's life right inside the crook of my | ||
| + | trigger finger. But, when I seen that I had to get good, why I just let | ||
| + | go all holds and practiced day and night. And I still got to practice."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with your guns."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about it once. Suppose a gent works up to be a fine musician, maybe at | ||
| + | the piano. You'd think, when he got to the top and knew everything, he | ||
| + | could lay off and take things easy the rest of his life. But not him! | ||
| + | Nope, he's got to work like a slave every day."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he asked after a time. "Is there anything that's gone wrong, far as you | ||
| + | see?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | prophet, but I don't like having everything so smooth—not when they's a | ||
| + | gent like the man with the sneer on the other end of the wire. It means | ||
| + | he's holding back some cards on us, and I'd sure like to see the color | ||
| + | of what he's got. What I'm going to work for is this, Bill: To get | ||
| + | Caroline' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | going to turn anybody over to the police. Less he has to do with the | ||
| + | police the happier he'll be. You can lay to that. Matter of fact, he's | ||
| + | been loaning money to Caroline' | ||
| + | he thinks that Mark is the finest and most generous gent that ever | ||
| + | stepped. Probably a selfish skunk of a spoiled kid, this brother of | ||
| + | hers. Most like he puts Mark up as sort of an ideal. Well, the thing to | ||
| + | do is to get hold of him and wake him up and pay off his debts to Mark, | ||
| + | which most like run to several thousand."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | He grinned at Bill Gregg.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | West, as fast as we can step. Now let's hit the hay."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the point. The case of Jerry Smith was exactly what he had surmised. As | ||
| + | for the crime of which John Mark knew, and which he held like a club | ||
| + | over Jerry Smith, it had been purely and simply an act of self-defense. | ||
| + | But, to Caroline and her brother, Mark had made it seem clear that the | ||
| + | shadow of the electric chair was before the young fellow.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she was the soul of courage; and, if he could once make her love her | ||
| + | work, she would make him rich. In the meantime she did very well indeed, | ||
| + | and he strengthened his hold on her through her brother. It was not hard | ||
| + | to do. If Jerry Smith was the soul of recklessness, | ||
| + | honor, also, in many ways. John Mark had only to lead the boy toward a | ||
| + | life of heavy expenditures and gaming, lending him, from time to time, | ||
| + | the wherewithal to keep it up. In this way he anchored Jerry as a | ||
| + | safeguard to windward, in case of trouble.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | changed. That clear-eyed fellow might see through to the very bottom of | ||
| + | Mark's tidewater plans. He might step in and cut the Gordian knot by | ||
| + | simply paying off Jerry' | ||
| + | of exposure, Doone could snatch him away to the West. So Mark came to | ||
| + | forestall Ronicky, by sending Jerry out of town and out of reach, for | ||
| + | the time being. He would not risk the effect of Ronicky' | ||
| + | not Caroline been persuaded under his very eyes by this strange | ||
| + | Westerner?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his protégé. It was his own man, Northup, who answered the bell and | ||
| + | opened the door to him. He had supplied Northup to Jerry Smith, | ||
| + | immediately after Caroline accomplished the lifting of the Larrigan | ||
| + | emeralds. That clever piece of work had proved the worth of the girl and | ||
| + | made it necessary to spare no expense on Jerry. So he had given him the | ||
| + | tried and proven Northup.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | master was not at home, and both the chief and the servant relaxed. They | ||
| + | were friends of too long a term to stand on ceremony.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | like this, Northup? He's trim you down nicely, eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | young brute, but it ain't brute force that I work with." He smiled | ||
| + | significantly into the face of the other, and John Mark smiled in | ||
| + | return. They understood one another perfectly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in the afternoon."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | operator downstairs said a gentleman was calling on Mr. Smith. I said, | ||
| + | of course, that Mr. Smith couldn' | ||
| + | operator said the gentleman would come up to the door and explain. I | ||
| + | told him to come ahead.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ever laid eyes on, brown as a berry, with a quick, straight look about | ||
| + | the eyes that would have done you good to see. No booze or dope in that | ||
| + | face, chief. He said—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | youngster was a card. Son,' he says to me, ' | ||
| + | Just lead me to his dugout.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | will try to make me at home,' and he grinned with a devil in each eye.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I, 'if you wake him up sudden. He fights sometimes because he has to, | ||
| + | but mostly because it's a pleasure to him.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | call Jerry, and then Jerry groaned like he was half dead.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | then if you want to. Here's my time for a beauty sleep.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | here to talk.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | red—it' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that he was choking, he was that crazy mad.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | one for you.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ever stepped you're the nerviest.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | side of a rock.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | minute they wrestled, and I opened the door. What I see was Jerry lying | ||
| + | flat, and Doone sitting on his chest, as calm and smiling as you please. | ||
| + | I closed the door quick. Jerry' | ||
| + | fair and square, but, of course, he'd rather fight till he died than | ||
| + | have me or anybody else see him give up.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | this later on, I'd like to shake hands with you. It was a good trick.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | said Doone. ' | ||
| + | fighting?'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | near jarred loose from my spinal column. I guess it'll have to be | ||
| + | hand-shaking today. But I warn you, Doone,' | ||
| + | it all out with you over again.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | when you rushed in, I would have been on the carpet, instead of you.'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to winning the fight.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again. Have you had breakfast? And what brought you to me? And who the | ||
| + | devil are you, Doone? Are you out of the West?'</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right off that him and Doone had made up to be pretty thick with each | ||
| + | other. So I went away from the door and didn't listen any more, and in | ||
| + | about half an hour out they walk, arm in arm, like old pals."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | purposely to break the link between him and young Jerry Smith. It was | ||
| + | perfectly plain why he wanted to do it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eight hundred and forty-two," | ||
| + | the pad. " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | from Ronicky—dope him—dope them both. In any case, if he comes back | ||
| + | here, don't let him get away. You understand?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to choose them. They had to have enough money to afford high play, and | ||
| + | they also had to lose without a murmur. It made it extremely difficult | ||
| + | to build up a clientele, but Fernand was equal to the task. He seemed to | ||
| + | smell out the character of a man or woman, to know at once how much iron | ||
| + | was in their souls. And, following the course of an evening' | ||
| + | Fernand knew the exact moment at which a man had had enough. It was | ||
| + | never twice the same for the same man. A rich fellow, who lost twenty | ||
| + | thousand one day and laughed at it, might groan and curse if he lost | ||
| + | twenty hundred a week later.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in his gaming house. He extracted wallets painlessly, so to speak.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unless the fellow knew every good trick of running up the deck. The | ||
| + | reason was that, while Fernand never cheated in order to take money away | ||
| + | from his customers, he very, very frequently had his men cheat in order | ||
| + | to give money away.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but there were profound reasons beneath it. For one of the maxims of | ||
| + | Fernand—and, | ||
| + | way to make a man lose money is first of all to make him win it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Falstaff, and many pitied the merry, fat old man for having fallen into | ||
| + | so hard a profession, yet there were a few who called him a bloated | ||
| + | spider, holding his victims, with invisible cords, and bleeding them | ||
| + | slowly to death.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in will and nerve and courage, both apparently equally expert with the | ||
| + | cards, and both just as equally capable of pleasing his clients. One was | ||
| + | a Scotchman, McKeever; the other was a Jew, Simonds. But in looks they | ||
| + | were as much alike as two peas out of one pod. They hated each other | ||
| + | with silent, smiling hatred, because they knew that they were on trial | ||
| + | for their fortunes.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Scotchman, McKeever, stood at the side of the master of the house, ready | ||
| + | to execute his commissions. Now and again his dark eyes wandered toward | ||
| + | the table where the Jew sat, with the cards flashing through his | ||
| + | fingers. McKeever hungered to be there on the firing line! How he wished | ||
| + | he could feel that sifting of the polished cardboard under his finger | ||
| + | tips. They were playing Black Jack. He noted the smooth skill with which | ||
| + | Simonds buried a card. And yet the trick was not perfectly done. Had he, | ||
| + | McKeever, been there—</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | "This is an infernal nuisance!"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | men, very young, very straight, had just come into the rooms. One he | ||
| + | knew to be Jerry Smith.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | heavens, he's brought some friend of his with him!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | forget, McKeever, that the friends of John Mark must be treated with | ||
| + | gloves—always!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | straight to the telephone and rang John Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Smith had just come in.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out there to make some money at your expense."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | complained. " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | resignation—" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | far as you like."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | "What do you think of the fellow with Jerry Smith?" | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stared at Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | through a litter of magazines. After a moment he raised his head | ||
| + | suddenly and glanced across the room at McKeever. The shock of meeting | ||
| + | glances is almost a physical thing. And the bold, calm eyes of Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone lingered on McKeever and seemed to judge him and file that | ||
| + | judgment away.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | something about this fellow, or his opinion would not have been asked. | ||
| + | What was it?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gunman, with a record as long as my arm."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right. There' | ||
| + | looks about, so slowly—that is the way a fearless man is apt to look, | ||
| + | you know. Do you think you can sit at the table with Ronicky Doone, as | ||
| + | they call him, and Jerry Smith and win from them this evening?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Tonight, McKeever, it's going to be your work to make the luck come to | ||
| + | you. Do you think you can?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | had he heard news so sweet to his ear. It meant, in brief, that he was | ||
| + | to be trusted for the first time at real manipulation of the cards. His | ||
| + | trust in himself was complete. This would be a crushing blow for | ||
| + | Simonds.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | working—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | risk?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | handsome, smoothly amiable. He was clever enough to make no indirect | ||
| + | effort to introduce his topic. "I see that you gentlemen are looking | ||
| + | about," | ||
| + | Smith?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | started for the table which had been indicated.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | over to the players. It lay, too, conveniently in range of the beat of | ||
| + | Frederic Fernand, as he moved slowly back and forth, over a limited | ||
| + | territory and stopped, here and there for a word, here and there for a | ||
| + | smile. He was smoothing the way for dollars to slide out of wallets. Now | ||
| + | he deliberately stopped the party in their progress to the alcove.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | my father, a young Westerner, those many years ago. Same brown skin, | ||
| + | same clear eye. He was a card expert, the man I'm thinking about. I hope | ||
| + | you're not in the same class, my friend!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Particularly from the back, as he retreated, he seemed a harmless fat | ||
| + | man, very simple, very naive. But Ronicky Doone regarded him with an | ||
| + | interest both cold and keen. And, with much the same regard, after | ||
| + | Fernand had passed out of view, the Westerner regarded the table at | ||
| + | which they were to sit.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ample to suit Ronicky Doone. For McKeever had taken the chair with the | ||
| + | back to the light. He made no comment, but, taking the chair which was | ||
| + | facing the lights, the chair which had been pointed out to him by | ||
| + | McKeever, he drew it around on the far side and sat down next to the | ||
| + | professional gambler.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Jerry Smith. He tucked away his chips with a smile of satisfaction, | ||
| + | if the three hands were significant of the whole progress of the game. | ||
| + | But Ronicky Doone pocketed his losses without either smile or sneer. He | ||
| + | had played too often in games in the West which ran to huge prices. | ||
| + | Miners had come in with their belts loaded with dust, eager to bet the | ||
| + | entire sum of their winnings at once. Ranchers, fat with the profits of | ||
| + | a good sale of cattle, had wagered the whole amount of it in a single | ||
| + | evening. As far as large losses and large gains were concerned, Ronicky | ||
| + | Doone was ready to handle the bets of anyone, other than millionaires, | ||
| + | without a smile or a wince.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Long before, it had been a maxim with the chief that a good gambler | ||
| + | should only lose by a small margin. That maxim McKeever, playing for the | ||
| + | first time for what he felt were important stakes in the eyes of | ||
| + | Fernand, followed too closely. Stacking the cards, with the adeptness | ||
| + | which years of practice had given to him, he never raised the amount of | ||
| + | his opponent' | ||
| + | three of a kind was simply beaten by three of a kind of a higher order; | ||
| + | and, when a full house was permitted by his expert dealing to appear to | ||
| + | excite the other gamblers, he himself indulged in no more than a | ||
| + | superior grade of three of a kind.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | distrust on the part of Ronicky Doone, but eventually he began to think. | ||
| + | Steady training enabled his eyes to do what the eyes of the ordinary man | ||
| + | could not achieve, and, while to Jerry Smith all that happened in the | ||
| + | deals of McKeever was the height of correctness, | ||
| + | seventh deal, awakened to the fact that something was wrong.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | waited and watched, hoping against hope that Jerry Smith himself would | ||
| + | discover the fraud which was being perpetrated on them. But Jerry Smith | ||
| + | maintained a bland interest in the game. He had won between two and | ||
| + | three hundred, and these winnings had been allowed by McKeever to | ||
| + | accumulate in little runs, here and there. For nothing encourages a | ||
| + | gambler toward reckless betting so much as a few series of high hands. | ||
| + | He then begins to believe that he can tell, by some mysterious feeling | ||
| + | inside, that one good hand presages another. Jerry Smith had not been | ||
| + | brought to the point where he was willing to plunge, but he was very | ||
| + | close to it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone, fully awake and aware of all that was happening, felt a | ||
| + | gathering rage accumulate in him. There was something doubly horrible in | ||
| + | this cheating in this place. Ronicky set his teeth and watched. Plainly | ||
| + | he was the chosen victim. The winnings of Jerry Smith were carefully | ||
| + | balanced against the losses of Ronicky Doone. Hatred for this | ||
| + | smooth-faced McKeever was waxing in him, and hatred in Ronicky Doone | ||
| + | meant battle.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | brief rustling of silk, like the stir of wind, and then Ruth Tolliver' | ||
| + | coppery hair and green-blue eyes were before him—Ruth Tolliver in an | ||
| + | evening gown and wonderful to look at. Ronicky Doone indulged himself | ||
| + | with staring eyes, as he rose to greet her. This, then, was her chosen | ||
| + | work under the régime of John Mark. It was as a gambler that she was | ||
| + | great. The uneasy fire was in her eyes, the same fire that he had seen | ||
| + | in Western gold camps, in Western gaming houses. And the delicate, | ||
| + | nervous fingers now took on a new meaning to him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | impalpable flush of the gamester was on her face, and behind it burned a | ||
| + | glow and radiance. She looked as if, having defeated men by the coolness | ||
| + | of her wits and the favor of luck, she had begun to think that she could | ||
| + | now outguess the world. Two men trailed behind her, stirring uneasily | ||
| + | about when she paused at Ronicky' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | evening. I think I have the formula for it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shadow of a backward nod of her head.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | girl into the next room.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you can. The two men with me I don't know. They may be his spies for all | ||
| + | we can tell. Ronicky Doone, John Mark is out for you. Why, in Heaven' | ||
| + | name, are you interfering with Caroline Smith and her affairs? It will | ||
| + | be your death, I promise you. John Mark has arrived and has placed men | ||
| + | around the house. Ronicky Doone, he means business. Help yourself if you | ||
| + | can. I'm unable to lift a hand for you. If I were you I should leave, | ||
| + | and I should leave at once. Laugh, Ronicky Doone!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the girl laughed with him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again and closed in beside her, and watched the light flash on her | ||
| + | shoulders, as she shrugged away some shadow from her mind—perhaps the | ||
| + | small care she had given about him. But no matter how cold-hearted she | ||
| + | might be, how thoroughly in tune with this hard, bright world of New | ||
| + | York, she at least was generous and had courage. Who could tell how much | ||
| + | she risked by giving him that warning?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | enjoyment of the jest he had just heard. He saw McKeever' | ||
| + | glance of interrogation and distrust—a thief' | ||
| + | man—but Ronicky' | ||
| + | instant. He swept up his hand, bet a hundred, with apparently foolish | ||
| + | recklessness, | ||
| + | McKeever.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | as a gambler—certainly it made him bet with the recklessness of a | ||
| + | madman. And Frederic Fernand, glancing in from time to time, watched the | ||
| + | demolition of Ronicky' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and Frederic Fernand liked him for it. His beautiful rooms were pearls | ||
| + | cast before swine, so far as most of his visitors were concerned. A | ||
| + | moment later Ronicky had risen, went toward the wall and drew a dagger | ||
| + | from its sheath.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | point drawn out thinner than the eye could follow. The end was merely a | ||
| + | long glint of light. As for Ronicky Doone, he cried out in surprise and | ||
| + | then sat down, balancing the weapon in his hand and looking down at it, | ||
| + | with the silent happiness of a child with a satisfying toy.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | likable in young Doone, he decided. No matter what John Mark had | ||
| + | said—no matter if John Mark was a genius in reading the characters of | ||
| + | men—every genius could make mistakes. This, no doubt, was one of John | ||
| + | Mark's mistakes. There was the free and careless thoughtlessness of a | ||
| + | boy about this young fellow. And, though he glanced down the glimmering | ||
| + | blade of the weapon, with a sort of sinister joy, Frederic Fernand did | ||
| + | not greatly care. There was more to admire in the workmanship of the | ||
| + | hilt than in a thousand such blades, but a Westerner would have his eye | ||
| + | on the useful part of a thing.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shiver of a ringing sound reached as far as Frederic Fernand.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pointing toward the hand in which McKeever held the pack, ready for the | ||
| + | deal.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chair. Fernand, studying his lieutenant in this crisis, approved of him | ||
| + | thoroughly. He himself was in a quandary. Westerners fight, and a fight | ||
| + | would be most embarrassing. "Do you think—" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | till I've had it looked over," said Ronicky Doone. " | ||
| + | thousand to you, and you're winning it with stacked decks, McKeever."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Frederic Fernand was beginning to draw one breath of joy at the thought | ||
| + | that McKeever would escape without having that pack, of all packs, | ||
| + | examined, when the long dagger flashed in the hand of Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | struck as the snapper on the end of a whiplash doubles back. And well | ||
| + | and truly did that steel uphold its fame.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Then McKeever, looking down in horror at his hand, screamed and fell | ||
| + | back in his chair.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | found him wanting. A man who fainted in such a crisis as this was beyond | ||
| + | the pale.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | length his weight enabled him to squeeze through the rapidly gathering | ||
| + | crowd of gamblers.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | weapon. For Ronicky Doone stood with his shoulders propped against the | ||
| + | wall, his hands clasped lightly behind him. For all that, it was plain | ||
| + | that he was not unarmed. A certain calm insolence about his expression | ||
| + | told Frederic Fernand that the teeth of the dragon were not drawn.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from face to face, "I sure do hate to bust up a nice little party like | ||
| + | this one has been, but I figure them cards are stacked. I got a pile of | ||
| + | reasons for knowing, and I want somebody to look over them | ||
| + | cards—somebody that knows stacked cards when he sees 'em. Mostly it | ||
| + | ain't hard to get onto the order of them being run up. I'll leave it, | ||
| + | gents, to the man that runs this dump."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Fernand. The latter set his teeth. It was very cunningly done to trap | ||
| + | him. If he said the cards were straight they might be examined | ||
| + | afterward; and, if he were discovered in a lie, it would mean more than | ||
| + | the loss of McKeever—it would mean the ruin of everything. Did he dare | ||
| + | take the chance? Must he give up McKeever? The work of years of careful | ||
| + | education had been squandered on McKeever.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone. Why had he never met a man like that before? There was an | ||
| + | assistant! There was a fellow with steel-cold nerve—worth a thousand | ||
| + | trained McKeevers! Then he glanced at the wounded man, cowering and | ||
| + | bunched in his chair. At that moment the gambler made up his mind to | ||
| + | play the game in the big way and pocket his losses.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | edge of the table, "I am sorry to say that Mr. Doone is right. The pack | ||
| + | has been run up. There it is for any of you to examine it. I don't | ||
| + | pretend to understand. Most of you know that McKeever has been with me | ||
| + | for years. Needless to say, he will be with me no more." And, turning on | ||
| + | his heel, the old fellow walked slowly away, his hands clasped behind | ||
| + | him, his head bowed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unshakable confidence in his honesty. McKeever was ruined, but the house | ||
| + | of Frederic Fernand was more firmly established than ever, after the | ||
| + | trial of the night.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | The wounded man in the meantime had disappeared.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bear."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | be half of what the house would lose for a little trick like what's been | ||
| + | played on us tonight. Not the half of what the house would lose, I tell | ||
| + | you! He had us trimmed, Jerry, and out West we'd wreck this joint from | ||
| + | head to heels."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | uncertainly. Ronicky Doone swept it up and thrust it into his pocket. | ||
| + | " | ||
| + | about now is action. This coin will start us."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the act of dissuading several of his clients from leaving. The incident | ||
| + | of the evening was regrettable, | ||
| + | happen when wild men appeared. Besides, the fault had been that of | ||
| + | McKeever. He assured them that McKeever would never again be employed in | ||
| + | his house. And Fernand meant it. He had discarded all care for the | ||
| + | wounded man.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | " | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of view of the rest of the little crowd. He drew Ronicky and Jerry Smith | ||
| + | into a little apartment which opened off the hall. It was furnished with | ||
| + | an almost feminine delicacy of style, with wide-seated, | ||
| + | Louis XV. chairs and a couch covered with rich brocade. The desk was a | ||
| + | work of Boulle. A small tapestry of the Gobelins made a ragged glow of | ||
| + | color on the wall. Frederic Fernand had recreated an atmosphere two | ||
| + | hundred years old.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone, "you are aware that I could have placed you in the hands of the | ||
| + | police for what you've done tonight?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | smile. " | ||
| + | anger at this nonchalance on the part of the Westerner, "they might of | ||
| + | grabbed me, but they would have grabbed your house first."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | like a wild man in my place? Mr. Doone, this is your last visit."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | happened out in my neck of the woods, if there had been a game like the | ||
| + | one tonight? I wouldn' | ||
| + | and started smashing things for luck."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | forward, as if to rise.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you worked the whole deal. This is a square house, Fernand. Why was I | ||
| + | picked out for the dirty work?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | from gasping. He managed to look Ronicky Doone fairly in the eyes. What | ||
| + | did the youngster know? What had he guessed?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about me was John Mark. Am I right?" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ears, "what infernal—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his face wrinkles up. I sure hurt you that time, Fernand. John Mark it | ||
| + | was, eh?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | devil might have hypnotic powers, or be in touch with he knew not what | ||
| + | unearthly source of information.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and two alternatives presented themselves to him. One was to say nothing | ||
| + | and pretend absolute ignorance; the other was to drop his hand into his | ||
| + | coat pocket and fire the little automatic which nestled there.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | still in my guesses! Suppose I said I figured out that John Mark and his | ||
| + | men might be scattered around outside this house, waiting for me and | ||
| + | Smith to come out: What would you say to that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | imagination as great as that I have only a silent admiration. But, if | ||
| + | you have some insane idea that John Mark, a gentleman I know and respect | ||
| + | greatly, is lurking like an assassin outside the doors of my house—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | silence. But, to ease your own mind, I'll show you a simple way out of | ||
| + | the house—a perfectly safe way which even you cannot doubt will lead | ||
| + | you out unharmed. Does that bring you what you want?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right at your heels." | ||
| + | led on as their guide.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | were in a smuggler' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | some tunnels or something for get-aways. This ain't a lawful house, | ||
| + | Jerry."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at last in a cool, big room, paved with cement, and the unmistakable | ||
| + | scent of the underground was in the air.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | which illumined the room completely and then drew aside a curtain which | ||
| + | opened into a black cavity.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Jerry?" | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | funny way."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you can't make out nothing most of the time—nothing important. But | ||
| + | they's ways of smelling things, and the smell of this here tunnel ain't | ||
| + | too good to me. Look again and try to pry down that tunnel with your | ||
| + | flash light, Jerry."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | above his head. They saw a tunnel opening, with raw dirt walls and floor | ||
| + | and a rude framing of heavy timbers to support the roof. But it turned | ||
| + | an angle and went out of view in a very few paces.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone. " | ||
| + | up."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | coughed heavily.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pretty far. Let's take a chance on what we've got ahead of us?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he said. " | ||
| + | as much as I guess about you I'd blow your head off, and go on without | ||
| + | ever thinking about you again. But I don't know. Here you've got me up | ||
| + | against it. We're going to go down that tunnel; but, if it's blind, | ||
| + | Fernand, and you trap us from this end, it will be the worst day of your | ||
| + | life."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I'll show some other ways of getting out—ways that lie under the open< | ||
| + | |||
| + | sky, Doone. Would you like that better? Do you want starlight and John< | ||
| + | |||
| + | Mark—or a little stretch of darkness, all by yourself?" | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | knew about the fellow the more thoroughly convinced he was that Fernand | ||
| + | was bad in all possible ways. He might be telling the truth now, | ||
| + | however—again he might be simply tempting him on to a danger. There was | ||
| + | only one way to decide. Ronicky, a gambler himself, mentally flipped a | ||
| + | coin and nodded to Jerry.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and there the passage turned and ended in a blank wall of raw dirt, with | ||
| + | a little apron of fallen debris at the bottom of it. Ronicky Doone | ||
| + | walked first, and, when he saw the passage obstructed in this manner, he | ||
| + | whirled like a flash and fired at the mouth of the tunnel.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | target, but he was too late. A great door was sliding rapidly across the | ||
| + | width of the tunnel, and, before he could fire a second time, the tunnel | ||
| + | was closed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | closed, and struck the whole weight of his body against it. There was | ||
| + | not so much as a quiver. The face of it was smooth steel, and there was | ||
| + | probably a dense thickness of stonework on the other side, to match the | ||
| + | cellar walls of the house.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fault, Ronicky! Oh, what a fool I am!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that flash light, Jerry. We may need that after a while, and the | ||
| + | batteries won't last forever."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he snapped out the light, was the lean, intense face and the blazing | ||
| + | eyes of Ronicky Doone. Decidedly this was not a fellow to trifle with. | ||
| + | If he trembled for himself and Ronicky, he could also spare a shudder | ||
| + | for what would happen to Frederic Fernand, if Ronicky got away. In the | ||
| + | meantime the light was out, and the darkness sat heavily beside and | ||
| + | about them, with that faint succession of inaudible breathing sounds | ||
| + | which are sensed rather than actually heard.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | right to sit down and argue and worry, but isn't it foolish, Ronicky?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | very easy to prove that it can't be solved by anyone. That's what I can | ||
| + | prove now, but why waste time?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of a tool for digging. So we sure can't tunnel out from the sides, can | ||
| + | we?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | can do anything to the steel door—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a whisper, either. No, it sure don't look like we could do much to that | ||
| + | door. Besides, even if we could, I don't think I'd go. I'd rather take a | ||
| + | chance against starvation than another trip to fat Fernand' | ||
| + | ever enter it again, son, you lay to it that he'll get me bumped off, | ||
| + | mighty pronto."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | up, Ronicky. The door won't work, and it's worse than solid rock. And we | ||
| + | can't tunnel out the side, without so much as a pin to help us dig, can | ||
| + | we? I think that just about settles things. Ronicky, we can't get out."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Besides, could we send off a blast of dynamite in a closed tunnel like | ||
| + | this?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | medicine to sit down and figure out how you're beat. Even if you owe a | ||
| + | pile of money they's some satisfaction in sitting back and adding up the | ||
| + | figures so that you come out about a million dollars on top—in your | ||
| + | dreams. Before we can get out of here we got to begin to feel powerful | ||
| + | sure."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | here. Nope, he's going to find a way to get us out. That's easy to | ||
| + | figure out. But the way he'll get us out will be as dead ones, and then | ||
| + | he can dump us, when he feels like it, in the river. Ain't that the | ||
| + | simplest way of working it out?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | us to do is to get set and wait for them to make an attack?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chance."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Jerry, there may be something behind the dirt wall at the end of the | ||
| + | tunnel."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ain't, you and me are dead ones, Jerry. Come along and help me look, | ||
| + | anyway."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | went down to pass the turn and come again to the ragged wall of earth | ||
| + | which terminated the passage. Jerry held the torch and passed it close | ||
| + | to the dirt. All was solid. There was no sign of anything wrong. The | ||
| + | very pick marks were clearly defined.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | He snatched the electric torch, and together they peered at the patch | ||
| + | from which the dried earth had fallen.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | into the surface beneath the patch, with the point of his hunting knife. | ||
| + | Instantly there was the sharp gritting of steel against steel.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a moan of relief.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | dug the tunnel to this point and excavated a place which they had | ||
| + | guarded with a steel door, but, in order to conceal the hiding place, or | ||
| + | whatever it might be, they cunningly worked the false wall of dirt | ||
| + | against the face of it, using clay and a thin coating of plaster as a | ||
| + | base.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that's why they can afford to put up this fake wall of plaster and mud | ||
| + | after every time they want to come down here. Pretty clever to leave | ||
| + | that little pile of dirt on the floor, just like it had been worked off | ||
| + | by the picks, eh? But we've found 'em, Jerry, and now all we got to do | ||
| + | is to get to the door and into whatever lies beyond."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | unmistakable odor of burning wood!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Fernand, having trapped his game, was now about to kill it. He could | ||
| + | suffocate the two with smoke, blown into the tunnel, and make them rush | ||
| + | blindly out. The moment they appeared, dazed and uncertain, the | ||
| + | revolvers of half a dozen gunmen would be emptied into them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shaking them into a pail of water. Let's go back and see what we can."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | had the door of the tunnel slid noiselessly open, then, into the tunnel | ||
| + | itself, smoking, slowly burning, pungent pieces of pine wood had been | ||
| + | thrown, having been first soaked in oil, perhaps. The tunnel was rapidly | ||
| + | filling with smoke, and through the white drifts of it they looked into | ||
| + | the lighted cellar beyond. They would run out at last, gasping for | ||
| + | breath and blinded by the smoke, to be shot down in a perfect light. So | ||
| + | much was clear.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | their fingers at the sham wall, kicking loose fragments with their feet.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | searched feverishly with the electric torch for some sign of a knob | ||
| + | which would indicate a door, or some button or spring which might be | ||
| + | used to open it. But there was nothing, and in the meantime the smoke | ||
| + | was drifting back, in more and more unendurable clouds.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the smooth tongue of Frederic Fernand. " | ||
| + | But trust yourselves to me, and all may still be well with you. Throw | ||
| + | out your weapons, and then walk out yourselves, with your arms above | ||
| + | your heads, and you may have a second chance. I don't promise—I simply | ||
| + | offer you a hope in the place of no hope at all. Is that a good | ||
| + | bargain?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at the wall.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | covered, after they had cleared it as much as they could, with a thin, | ||
| + | clinging coat of plaster which might well conceal the button or device | ||
| + | for opening the door. Every moment the task became infinitely harder.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the floor and gasped. A horrible gagging sound betrayed his efforts for | ||
| + | breath.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | thick and dizzy. "One more try, then we'll turn and rush them and die | ||
| + | fighting, Jerry."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | effort, fumbling with their hands across the rough surface, and | ||
| + | suddenly—had they touched the spring, indeed?—a section of the surface | ||
| + | before them swayed slowly in. Ronicky caught the half-senseless body of | ||
| + | Jerry Smith and thrust him inside. He himself staggered after, and | ||
| + | before him stood Ruth Tolliver!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | they had come and then stood and silently watched them. Presently Smith | ||
| + | sat up, and Ronicky Doone staggered to his feet, his head clearing | ||
| + | rapidly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a ceiling so low that he could barely stand erect. As for the | ||
| + | furnishings and the arrangement, | ||
| + | than anything else. There were, to be sure, three little stools, but | ||
| + | nothing else that one would expect to find in an apartment. For the rest | ||
| + | there was nothing but a series of steel drawers and strong chests, | ||
| + | lining the walls of the room and leaving in the center very little room | ||
| + | in which one might move about.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | evening cloak, but with the light gleaming in her coppery hair, was | ||
| + | shaking him by the arm and leaning a white face close to him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | now, at once. They will find out—they will guess—and then—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | pressed her hand over her mouth, looking at Ronicky Doone in a sort of | ||
| + | horror.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | background, staring with a befuddled mind at the lovely vision of the | ||
| + | girl. Fear and excitement and pleasure had transformed her face, but she | ||
| + | seemed trembling in an agony of desire to be gone. She seemed invincibly | ||
| + | drawn to remain there longer still. Ronicky Doone stared at her, with a | ||
| + | strange blending of pity and admiration. He knew that the danger was not | ||
| + | over by any means, but he began to forget that.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the wall.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | start to go through the smoke for a while. They' | ||
| + | us, when we don't come out on the rush, shooting. But they' | ||
| + | a time to make sure. They don't like my style so well that they' | ||
| + | me." He smiled sourly at the thought. "And we got time to learn a lot of | ||
| + | things that we'll never find out, unless we know right now, pronto!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | there? How come you to get down here? How come you to risk everything | ||
| + | you got to let us out through the treasure room of Mark's gang?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wincing, that the shot had told.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | me you want to stay here and talk? Even if you have a moment to spare | ||
| + | you must use it. If you knew the men with whom you are dealing you would | ||
| + | never dream of—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | don't know me. But the way I figure it is this: a gent may die any time, | ||
| + | but, when he finds a minute for good living, he'd better make the most | ||
| + | of it."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | be certain. "What do you intend by that?" she asked.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | my life, but I've never yet seen a girl throw up all she had to do a | ||
| + | good turn for a gent she's seen only once. You follow me, lady? I pretty | ||
| + | near guess the trouble you're running into."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gambler, lady, and he uses you on the big game."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with the pain. "You have guessed all that about me?" she asked faintly. | ||
| + | "That means you despise me!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | they have for doing a thing that matters, I figure, and the way they do | ||
| + | it. I dunno how John Mark hypnotized you and made a tool out of you, but | ||
| + | I do know that you ain't changed by what you've done."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | not, ordinarily, particularly forward with girls. Now he acted as | ||
| + | gracefully as if he had been the father of Ruth Tolliver. " | ||
| + | said, " | ||
| + | piled up to anybody' | ||
| + | got to go, but I'm coming back. Will you let me come back?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | never see Caroline Smith again. Any step you take in that direction is | ||
| + | under peril of your life. Leave New York, Ronicky Doone. Leave it as | ||
| + | quickly as you may, and never come back. Only pray that his arm isn't | ||
| + | long enough to follow you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ruth. When you get back home you're going to tell Caroline that Jerry, | ||
| + | here, has seen the light about Mark, and that he has money enough to pay | ||
| + | back what he owes."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | enough, son. Go tell Caroline what I've said," he went on to the girl. | ||
| + | "Let her know that they's no chain on anybody, and, if she wants to find | ||
| + | Bill Gregg, all she's got to do is go across the street. You | ||
| + | understand?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she's watched?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | waiting for her, right across the street, she ain't worth worrying | ||
| + | about," | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | long!" she kept whispering in her terror, as she led them through the | ||
| + | door, paused to turn out the light behind her, and then conducted them | ||
| + | down a passage like that on the other side of the treasure chamber.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | girl's dress, as she hurried before them, was their guide. And always | ||
| + | her whisper came back: " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | under the starlight in a back yard, with houses about them on all sides.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "Down that alley, and then hurry—run—find the first taxi. Will you do | ||
| + | that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | yourselves and for me!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the Westerner was stubbornly pressing back to the girl. He had her hand | ||
| + | and would not leave it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hear?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ten other men in the whole world could be half so generous and wild as | ||
| + | you!" Suddenly her hand was slipped from his, and she was gone into the | ||
| + | shadows.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | find that Ronicky Doone was still running here and there, in a blind | ||
| + | confusion, probing the shadowy corners of the yard in search of the | ||
| + | girl.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | minute—they may be waiting for us now, down the alley—come off, idiot, | ||
| + | quick!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky, shaking his head bitterly. " | ||
| + | count beside a girl like that. Getting soot on one tip of her finger | ||
| + | might mean more'n whether you or me die."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | let's start to make sure of ourselves, and we can come back to find her | ||
| + | later."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | persuasion of his friend, turned reluctantly and followed him down the | ||
| + | alley.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Simonds, the lieutenant of Frederic Fernand, in the passage. He was a | ||
| + | ratfaced little man, with a furtive smile. Not an unpleasant smile, but | ||
| + | it was continually coming and going, as if he wished earnestly to win | ||
| + | the favor of the men before him, but greatly doubted his ability to do | ||
| + | so. Ruth Tolliver, knowing his genius for the cards, knowing his cold | ||
| + | and unscrupulous soul, detested him heartily.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Obviously he wished to speak with her, and obviously he did not wish to | ||
| + | be seen in the act. As she paused he stepped to her, his face suddenly | ||
| + | set with determination.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | everything!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | conjoined cynicism, admiration, doubt, and fear in his glance. But, | ||
| + | instead of speaking again, he bowed and slipped away into the open hall.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at that she shivered.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gone when she left the gaming house? Or did he know? Had he not merely | ||
| + | guessed? Perhaps he had been set on by Fernand or Mark to entangle and | ||
| + | confuse her?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that Simonds did indeed know, and that, for the first time in his life, | ||
| + | perhaps, he was doing an unbought, a purely generous thing.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | how often his face had lighted when she spoke even casually to him. Yes, | ||
| + | there might be a reason for Simonds' | ||
| + | he knew fairly well what John Mark himself half guessed. The thought | ||
| + | that she was under the suspicion of Mark himself was terrible to her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tables, laughing and chatting as he went. She shuddered at the sight of | ||
| + | him. It was strange that he, who had, a moment before, in the very | ||
| + | cellar of that house, been working to bring about the death of two men, | ||
| + | should now be immaculate, self-possessed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | his back to the room and a cup of tea before him. That was, in fact, his | ||
| + | favorite drink at all hours of the day or night. To see Fernand was bad | ||
| + | enough, but to see the master mind of all the evil that passed around | ||
| + | her was too much. The girl inwardly thanked Heaven that his back was | ||
| + | turned and started to pass him as softly as possible.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | room.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | child afraid of the dark. In the next apartment were light and warmth | ||
| + | and eager faces and smiles and laughter, and here, behind her, was the | ||
| + | very spirit of darkness calling her back. After an imperceptible | ||
| + | hesitation she turned.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | known of her passing. A small oval mirror, fixed against the wall before | ||
| + | him, had shown her image. How much had it betrayed, she wondered, of her | ||
| + | guiltily stealthy pace? She went to him and found that he was leisurely | ||
| + | and openly examining her in the glass, as she approached, his chin | ||
| + | resting on one hand, his thin face perfectly calm, his eyes hazy with | ||
| + | content. It was a habit of his to regard her like a picture, but she had | ||
| + | never become used to it; she was always disconcerted by it, as she was | ||
| + | at this moment.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | professional, | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shook. "Sit down, please."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | money?" | ||
| + | Fortunately, | ||
| + | wanted to make you a free and independent being, my dear, and that is | ||
| + | why I have put you through the most dangerous and exacting school in the | ||
| + | world. You understand?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | understand entirely," | ||
| + | days, when you knew nothing of the world but me. Can you remember?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | directions, you would have been mine, Ruth. I could have married you the | ||
| + | moment you became a woman. Is that true?" " | ||
| + | perfectly true." The coldness that passed over her taught her for the | ||
| + | first time how truly she dreaded that marriage which had been postponed, | ||
| + | but which inevitably hung over her head.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | been an undeveloped child, really; you would never have grown up. No | ||
| + | matter what they say, something about a woman is cut off at the root | ||
| + | when she marries. Certainly, if she had not been free before, she is a | ||
| + | slave if she marries a man with a strong will. And I have a strong will, | ||
| + | Ruth—very strong!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | were less of what he wanted in that second use of the name. He went on: | ||
| + | "So you see, I faced a problem. I must and would marry you. There was | ||
| + | never any other woman born who was meant for me. So much so good. But, | ||
| + | if I married you before you were wise enough to know me, you would have | ||
| + | become a slave, shrinking from me, yielding to me, incapable of loving | ||
| + | me. No, I wanted a free and independent creature as my wife; I wanted a | ||
| + | partnership, | ||
| + | and women? No, I could not do that in the ordinary way. I have had to | ||
| + | show you the hard and bad side of life, because I am, in many ways, a | ||
| + | hard and bad man myself!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | defying her—his eyes were wistful, entreating her not to agree with | ||
| + | him. Such a sudden rush of pity for the man swept over her that she put | ||
| + | out her hand and pressed his. He looked down at her hand for a moment, | ||
| + | and she felt his fingers trembling under that gentle pressure.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | before. But I'll never understand entirely."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | careless sweep of his hand. "A thing that is understood is not feared. I | ||
| + | wish to be feared, not to make people cower, but to make them know when | ||
| + | I come, and when I go. Even love is nothing without a seasoning of fear. | ||
| + | For instance" | ||
| + | committal of himself—" | ||
| + | have done with the money you've won?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wonder, as a servant passed softly across the little room. Was it not | ||
| + | stranger than words could tell that such a man as John Mark should be | ||
| + | sitting in this almost public place and pouring his soul out into the | ||
| + | ear of a girl?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | half of it to charity."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | exclaimed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of a fictitious personality. That fictitious personality is, in flesh | ||
| + | and blood, Ruth Tolliver with a new name. You understand? I have only to | ||
| + | hand you the bank book with the list of deposits, and you can step out | ||
| + | of this Tolliver personality and appear in a new part of the world as | ||
| + | another being. Do you see what it means? If, at the last, you find you | ||
| + | cannot marry me, my dear, you are provided for. Not out of my charity, | ||
| + | which would be bitter to you, but out of your own earnings. And, lest | ||
| + | you should be horrified at the thought of living on your earnings at the | ||
| + | gaming table, I have thrown bread on the waters, dear Ruth. For every | ||
| + | dollar you have in the bank you have given another to charity, and both, | ||
| + | I hope, have borne interest for you!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | him: "Then I am free? Free, John?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the wonderful thing." | ||
| + | there was so much fineness in you, John Mark, I never dreamed it, but I | ||
| + | should have!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | beginning to love it. In another year, or six months, trust me to have | ||
| + | completely filled her with the fever. But now enters the mischief-maker | ||
| + | in the piece, a stranger, an ignorant outsider. This incredible man | ||
| + | arrives and, in a few days, having miraculously run Caroline to earth, | ||
| + | goes on and brings Caroline face to face with her lover, teaches Jerry | ||
| + | Smith that I am his worst enemy, gets enough money to pay off his debt | ||
| + | to me, and convinces him that I can never use my knowledge of his crime | ||
| + | to jail him, because I don't dare bring the police too close to my own | ||
| + | rather explosive record."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and she saw his keen eyes probe her with a glance. But her | ||
| + | ingenuousness, | ||
| + | suspicions.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | away through a certain room which Fernand would give a million to keep | ||
| + | secret. At any rate the fellow has shown that he is slippery and has a | ||
| + | sting, too. He sent a bullet a fraction of an inch past Fernand' | ||
| + | at one point in the little story.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Smith from the inside. I want you to go to her, to persuade her to go | ||
| + | away with you on a trip. Take her to the Bermudas, or to Havana—any | ||
| + | place you please. The moment the Westerner thinks his lady is running | ||
| + | away from him of her own volition he'll throw up his hands and curse his | ||
| + | luck and go home. They have that sort of pride on the other side of the | ||
| + | Rockies. Will you go back tonight, right now, and persuade Caroline to | ||
| + | go with you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to send Caroline Smith to meet her lover. Now the counterattack | ||
| + | followed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | is for her to go away, otherwise I'll wipe the fool off the map. Better | ||
| + | still, tell her that Gregg of his own free will has left New York and | ||
| + | given up the chase. Tell her you want to console her with a trip. She'll | ||
| + | be sad and glad and flattered, all in the same moment, and go along with | ||
| + | you without a word. Will you try, Ruth?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | nuisance?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | course I'll do my best. I'll go back right now."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I have one person in whom I can trust without question—one who needs no | ||
| + | bribing or rewards, but works to please me. Good-by, my dear."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | room to the rear of the house. There he rapped on a door in a peculiar | ||
| + | manner. It was opened at once, and Harry Morgan appeared before him.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I'm ready," | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | home. She'll probably talk with Caroline Smith. Find a way of listening. | ||
| + | If you hear anything that seems wrong to you—anything about Caroline | ||
| + | leaving the house alone, for instance, telephone to me at once. Now go | ||
| + | and work, as you never worked for me before."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she must do as John Mark had told her—work for him as she had never | ||
| + | worked before. The determination made her go home to Beekman Place as | ||
| + | fast as a taxicab would whirl her along.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | door that her determination faltered. For there she saw the girl lying | ||
| + | on her bed weeping. And it seemed to the poor, bewildered brain of Ruth | ||
| + | Tolliver, as if the form of Ronicky Doone, passionate and eager as | ||
| + | before, stood at her side and begged her again to send Caroline Smith | ||
| + | across the street to a lifelong happiness, and she could do it. Though | ||
| + | Mark had ordered the girl to be confined to her room until further | ||
| + | commands were given on the subject, no one in the house would think of | ||
| + | questioning Ruth Tolliver, if she took the girl downstairs to the street | ||
| + | and told her to go on her way.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of Caroline. The poor girl sat up slowly and turned a stained and | ||
| + | swollen face to Ruth. If there was much to be pitied there was something | ||
| + | to be laughed at, also. Ruth could not forbear smiling. But Caroline was | ||
| + | clutching at her hands.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that he's changed his mind, Ruth? Oh, you've persuaded him to it—like | ||
| + | an angel—I know you have!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of a towel in the bathroom and began to remove the traces of tears from | ||
| + | the face of Caroline Smith. That face was no longer flushed, but growing | ||
| + | pale with excitement and hope.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | managed a wan smile. "His letters were very bad. But, between the lines, | ||
| + | I could read so much real manhood, such simple honesty, such a heart, | ||
| + | such a will to trust! Ruth, are you laughing at me?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | same qualities. Not so much simplicity, perhaps, but to make up for it, | ||
| + | a great fire of will and driving energy.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | trip West and wrote to him to meet the train on my return—even then I | ||
| + | was only guessing. When he didn't appear at the station I went cold and | ||
| + | made up my mind that I would never think of him again."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was afraid even to think for myself. But, when Ronicky Doone—bless | ||
| + | him!—talked to me in your room, I knew what Bill Gregg must be, since | ||
| + | he had a friend who would venture as much for him as Ronicky Doone did. | ||
| + | It all came over me in a flash. I did love him—I did, indeed!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | remember how he stood there and talked to you. He was like a man on | ||
| + | fire. No wonder that a spark caught in you, Caroline. He—he' | ||
| + | fine-looking fellow, don't you think, Caroline?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sharply to her face, but the girl was clever enough to mask her | ||
| + | excitement and delight.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but at the moment he seems to know a great deal—about what's going on | ||
| + | inside one, don't you think, Caroline?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Tolliver, set the heart of Caroline beating. There was most certainly | ||
| + | something in the wind.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | when he looks at you, of making you feel that he isn't thinking of | ||
| + | anything else in the world but you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | after a moment of thought, "Yes, I suppose it's just a habit of his. I | ||
| + | wish I knew."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | question.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you know, one has to study character. Ronicky Doone is a different sort | ||
| + | of man, don't you think?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | knew, could unlock nearly any door in the house of John Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stairs—together."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | won't dare stop us if you are with me, leading the way."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | eyes. Ruth Tolliver, aghast at this sudden strength in one who had | ||
| + | always been a meek follower, obeyed without resistance.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | irresistibly forward, with or without her own will.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | commanding hands and eyes of her companion, "are you quite mad? Go to | ||
| + | him? Why should I? How can I?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone—bless him!—to take you away somewhere, so that you can | ||
| + | begin a new life. Isn't that simple?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | happy. He's the kind that's happy when he's being of use to others?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | what's happening around you. John Mark hypnotizes you. He makes you | ||
| + | think that the whole world is bad, that we are simply making capital out | ||
| + | of our crimes. As a matter of fact, the cold truth is that he has made | ||
| + | me a thief, Ruth, and he has made you something almost as bad—a | ||
| + | gambler!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | slowly to the door. Ruth was protesting—she could not throw herself on | ||
| + | the kindness of Ronicky Doone—it could not be done. It would be | ||
| + | literally throwing herself at his head. But here the door opened, and | ||
| + | she allowed herself to be led out into the hall. They had not made more | ||
| + | than half a dozen steps down its dim length when the guard hurried | ||
| + | toward them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you're the only person who can make him let me pass on!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you're going downstairs, Miss Smith."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the word. And I got to ask you to step back into your room, and step | ||
| + | quick." | ||
| + | you're not to come out."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | arm of Ruth was passed strongly around her shoulders and stayed her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | difference to you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | difference. You go where you want, any time you want, but this—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that she was directly confronted by the guard.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bothering you none, but I got to keep this lady back. I got the orders."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | changed."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | your way—" | ||
| + | started on, the guard slunk sullenly to one side of the corridor.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and one of them is a girl. How can a gent have any idea which way he | ||
| + | ought to step in a pinch? Go on, Miss Smith, but you'll be answered | ||
| + | for!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stairway, hurrying, but not fast enough to excite the suspicion of the | ||
| + | man behind them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I'm about to leave it, I realize how I've hated this life all these | ||
| + | years. I'll never stop thanking you for waking me up to it, Caroline."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Ruth. She had hurried home to execute the bidding of John Mark. She had | ||
| + | left it, obeying the bidding of Ronicky Doone.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | night air blew in on them, and they heard the sound of a man running up | ||
| + | the steps. In a moment the dim hall light showed on the slender form and | ||
| + | the pale face of John Mark standing before them.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | verge of collapse, but a strong pressure from the hand of her companion | ||
| + | told her that she had an ally in the time of need.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her room—and with you, Ruth?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | weather like this," said Ruth, with a perfect calm that restored | ||
| + | Caroline' | ||
| + | evening I made up my mind that I'd take her out for a walk."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and talk it over for a moment."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | main question is, where do you intend to walk?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | instead of one? What of that, my clever Ruth?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he had managed to learn the tenor of the talk in Caroline' | ||
| + | asked bluntly: "What are you guessing at?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for a busy man. I have to hire help, and I get it. Very effective help, | ||
| + | too, don't you agree?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | You sent me to steal her from her lover, and I've tried to steal her for | ||
| + | him in the end. Do you know why? Because she was able to show me what a | ||
| + | happy love might mean to a woman. She showed me that, and she showed me | ||
| + | how much courage love had given her. So I began to guess a good many | ||
| + | things, and, among the rest, I came to the conclusion that I could never | ||
| + | truly love you, John Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you all the time—I haven' | ||
| + | Only—tonight I learned something new. Do you see?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | learning new things, now and again. I congratulate you. Am I to suppose | ||
| + | that Caroline was your teacher?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her, there was a quality in the smile that shriveled her very soul with | ||
| + | fear. No matter what he might say or do this evening to establish | ||
| + | himself in the better graces of the girl he was losing, his malice was | ||
| + | not dead. That she knew.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | John, what a marvelous thing it is to be free. You understand that all | ||
| + | the years I have been with you I have never been free?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "Not free, my dear? Was there ever the least wish of yours since you | ||
| + | were a child that I did not gratify? Not one, Ruth; not one, surely, of | ||
| + | which I am conscious!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | by something that you liked or disliked. You were the starting point of | ||
| + | all that I desired. I was almost afraid to think until I became sure | ||
| + | that you approved of my thinking."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | have changed greatly."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | say, gave you to me. I felt that I must improve on the gift of Heaven | ||
| + | before I accepted you. There was my fault. For that I must pay the great | ||
| + | penalty. Kismet! And now, what is it you wish?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to you. The change of identity of which I spoke to you is easily | ||
| + | arranged. I have only to take you to the bank and that is settled. Is | ||
| + | there anything else?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | thing more—out of the goodness of that really big heart of yours, John, | ||
| + | dear!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she loves. That is really all!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | smiled down on her, an inexplicable expression on his face.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | all these years of study I should have thought that you would, at least, | ||
| + | have partially comprehended me. I see that is not to be. But try to | ||
| + | understand that I divide with a nice distinction the affairs of | ||
| + | sentiment and the affairs of business. There is only one element in my | ||
| + | world of sentiment—that is you. Therefore, ask what you want and take | ||
| + | it for yourself; but for Caroline, that is an entirely different matter. | ||
| + | No, Ruth, you may take what you will for yourself, but for her, for any | ||
| + | other living soul, not a penny, not a cent will I give. Can you | ||
| + | comprehend it? Is it clear? As for giving her freedom, nothing under | ||
| + | Heaven could persuade me to it!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to Caroline who had uttered a sharp cry and sunk into a chair.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | can help me but you!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that in this house a girl against her will—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | reach me? She may be a hundred miles away before you have spoken ten | ||
| + | words to the authorities."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you have no holds over her brother. She knows that Ronicky Doone has | ||
| + | broken them all—that Jerry is free of you!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | No doubt of it; his is a very peculiar and incisive talent, I admit. | ||
| + | But, though he has broken all the old holds, there are ways of finding | ||
| + | new ones. If you leave now, I can even promise you, my dear, that, | ||
| + | before the next day dawns, the very soul of Caroline will be a pawn in | ||
| + | my hands. Do you doubt it? Such an exquisitely tender, such a delicate | ||
| + | soul as Caroline, can you doubt that I can form invisible bonds which | ||
| + | will hold her even when she is a thousand miles away from me? Tush, my | ||
| + | dear; think again, and you will think better of my ability."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | even more generous myself and set her free at once. But, alas, I am | ||
| + | essentially a practical man. If you will stay with me, Ruth, if you | ||
| + | marry me at once, why, then indeed this girl is as free as the wind. | ||
| + | Otherwise I should be a fool. You see, my dear, I love you so that I | ||
| + | must have you by fair means or foul, but I cannot put any chain upon you | ||
| + | except your own word. I confess it, you see, even before this poor girl, | ||
| + | if she is capable of understanding, | ||
| + | you make the offer?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | have lost you, it seems. If I have you again there is no power in | ||
| + | you—no power between earth and heaven to take you from me a second | ||
| + | time. Give yourself to me with a word, and I shall make you mine | ||
| + | forever. Then Caroline shall go free—free as the wind—to her lover, my | ||
| + | dear, who is waiting."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he done otherwise he knew that she would have shrunk. She looked to him, | ||
| + | she looked to Caroline Smith. The latter had suddenly raised her head | ||
| + | and thrown out her hands, with an unutterable appeal in her eyes. At | ||
| + | that mute appeal Ruth Tolliver surrendered.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | all. What could I do in the world except what you've taught me to do? | ||
| + | No, let Caroline go freely, and I give my—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in the dead whiteness of his face. " | ||
| + | don't want that chain to bind you. There might come a time when some | ||
| + | power arose strong enough to threaten to take you from me. Then I want | ||
| + | to show you that I don't need your promise. I can hold you for myself. | ||
| + | Only come to me and tell me simply that you will be mine if you can. | ||
| + | Will you do that?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | said faintly, half closing her eyes. She had come so close that, if he | ||
| + | willed, he could have taken her in his arms. She nerved herself against | ||
| + | it; then she felt her hand taken, raised and touched lightly against | ||
| + | trembling lips. When she stepped back she knew that the decisive moment | ||
| + | of her life had been passed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Go at once."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with a cry of pain. "Is it what I think?" | ||
| + | sacrifice all for me? You don't really care for him, Ruth, and—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | struck with a whip. He had raised the curtain of the front window beside | ||
| + | the door and was pointing up and across the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in it. I suppose he is waiting. But, if you wish to go, your time is | ||
| + | short—very short!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | say to Ruth: " | ||
| + | through the door, and the two within heard the sharp patter of her | ||
| + | heels, as she ran down to the street.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | face of the man she was to marry. She could have held out, she felt, had | ||
| + | it not been for the sound of those departing footsteps, running so | ||
| + | blithely toward a lifetime of happiness. Even as it was she made herself | ||
| + | hold out. Then a vague astonishment came to clear her mind. There was no | ||
| + | joy in the face of John Mark, only a deep and settled pain.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bought the thing I love, and that, you know, is the last and deepest | ||
| + | damnation. If another man had told me that I was capable of such a | ||
| + | thing, I'd have killed him on the spot. But now I have done it!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | She made herself raise them to his. " | ||
| + | longer?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | on you. Don't, for Heaven' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | declared through his teeth, "and I accept it." He spoke more to himself | ||
| + | than to her, and then directly: "Will you let me walk up with you?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | each landing it seemed her strength gave out, and she had to pause for a | ||
| + | brief rest; when she paused he spoke with difficulty, but with his heart | ||
| + | in every word.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and torments which flew out of Pandora' | ||
| + | last—that blessed Hope—and healed the wounds? Here, a moment after the | ||
| + | blow has fallen, I am hoping again like a fool. I am hoping that I shall | ||
| + | teach you to forget; or, if I cannot teach you to forget, than I shall | ||
| + | even make you glad of what you have done tonight."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she was looking straight across the street to the lighted windows of the | ||
| + | rooms of Ronicky Doone and Bill Gregg. While she watched she saw the | ||
| + | silhouette of a man and woman running to each other, saw them clasped in | ||
| + | each other' | ||
| + | hands.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shoulder at the towering facade of the house of John Mark, then she | ||
| + | fled, as fast as her feet would carry her, straight across the street | ||
| + | and up the steps of the rooming house and frantically up the stairs, a | ||
| + | panic behind her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her head turned, she watched for the coming of some swift-avenging | ||
| + | figure from behind. John Mark had given her up, but it was impossible | ||
| + | for John Mark to give up anything. When would he strike? That was the | ||
| + | only question.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | was like the reach of a friendly hand, and there was Ronicky Doone | ||
| + | laughing for pure joy—and there was Bill Gregg' | ||
| + | saw a ghost.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Gregg, as he took her in his arms and asked over and over: "How did it | ||
| + | come about? How did it come about?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to him and Ruth Tolliver."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ruth Tolliver? She wouldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the frowning face of Ronicky Doone her heart for a moment misgave her. | ||
| + | How could she tell the truth? How could she admit her cowardice which | ||
| + | had accepted Ruth's great sacrifice?</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | million things to say to Caroline."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | about the way Caroline said that. Will you let me ask you a few more | ||
| + | questions?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | " | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to break in upon the long delayed happiness of these two. While he paced | ||
| + | he heard Bill Gregg saying that they must start at once and put three | ||
| + | thousand miles between them and that devil, John Mark; and he heard | ||
| + | Caroline say that there was no longer anything to fear—the claws of the | ||
| + | devil had been trimmed, and he would not reach after them—he had | ||
| + | promised. At that Ronicky whirled sharply on them again.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | to change his mind without a pretty good reason. What bought him off? | ||
| + | Nothing but a price would change him, I guess."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tall body of Ronicky Doone was trembling with excitement.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Mark stopped us."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | freedom?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ronicky Doone, where a storm was gathering.< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | away from that life and start over—is that straight, Caroline?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | woman agin' her will in this country."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | she made a bargain? Don't you think she's ready and willing to live up | ||
| + | to it? She sure is, son, and she'll go the limit to do what she's said | ||
| + | she'll do. You stay here—I' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | me. Here's where I go as far as you go. I'm ready when you're ready, | ||
| + | Ronicky."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | but she sat with her hands clasped close together, her eyes begging | ||
| + | Ronicky to let the offer go. Ronicky Doone nodded slowly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | stay here for a while, and I'll trot down and take a look around and try | ||
| + | to figure out what's to be done. Can't just walk up and rap at the front | ||
| + | door of the house, you know. And I can't go in the way I went before. No | ||
| + | doubt about that. I got to step light. So let me go out and look around, | ||
| + | will you, Bill? Then I'll come back and tell you what I've decided."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | house. He realized that more than an hour had passed since Caroline had | ||
| + | left John Mark's house. What had happened to Ruth in that hour? The | ||
| + | front of the house was lighted in two or three windows, but those lights | ||
| + | could tell him nothing. From the inside of the house he could locate | ||
| + | Ruth's room again, but from the outside it was impossible for him to do | ||
| + | it.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for attack they knew he would. The only question was from what angle he | ||
| + | would deliver his assault. In that case, of course, the correct thing | ||
| + | was to find the unexpected means. But how could he outguess a band of | ||
| + | trained criminals? They would have foreseen far greater subtleties than | ||
| + | any he could attempt. They would be so keen that the best way to take | ||
| + | them by surprise might be simply to step up to the house, ring the door | ||
| + | bell and enter, if the door were opened.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | guarding every obscure cellar window, every skylight. To trick them was | ||
| + | impossible, but it was always possible to bluff any man—even John Mark | ||
| + | and his followers.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | opposite house and rang the bell—not a timid ring, but two sharp | ||
| + | pressures, such as would announce a man in a hurry, a brisk man who did | ||
| + | not wish to be delayed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | shadow of the brim would fall like a robber' | ||
| + | of his face. Then he waited, as a man both hurried and certain, turning | ||
| + | a little away from the door, at an angle which still more effectually | ||
| + | concealed him, while he tapped impatiently with one foot.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | out at him from the side window. How much had they seen? How much had | ||
| + | they guessed as to the identity of this night visitor? The softness of | ||
| + | the opening of the door and the whisper of the wind, as it rushed into | ||
| + | the hall beyond, were like a hiss of threatening secrecy. And then, from | ||
| + | the shadow of that meager opening a voice was saying: " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that it was he they would either have kept the door definitely closed, | ||
| + | or else they would have flung it open and boldly invited him in.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | door.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | until it was barely an inch ajar.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bo!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | you."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | message," | ||
| + | doorman. The latter turned with a growl, and the moment he was halfway | ||
| + | around Ronicky Doone sprang in. His right arm fastened around the head | ||
| + | of the unlucky warder and, passing down to his throat, crushed it in a | ||
| + | strangle hold. His other hand, darting out in strong precision, caught | ||
| + | the right arm of the warder at the wrist and jerked it back between his | ||
| + | shoulders. In an instant he was effectively gagged and bound by those | ||
| + | two movements, and Ronicky Doone, pausing for an instant to make sure of | ||
| + | himself, heard footsteps in the hall above.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | of the way. For that purpose he half carried, half dragged his victim | ||
| + | through the doorway and into the adjoining room. There he deposited him | ||
| + | on the floor, as near death as life. Relaxing his hold on the man's | ||
| + | throat, he whipped out his Colt and tucked the cold muzzle under the | ||
| + | chin of the other.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | I'm Ronicky Doone. Now talk quick. Where' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | second' | ||
| + | to smash your head open for that lie," he said at a random guess. "Tell | ||
| + | me straight, now, where' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | told me where the girl is, you're dead, partner. That's straight, now | ||
| + | talk."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Where' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chase after all.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | silence, as he reached the heart of his narrative.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | before it Ruth Tolliver lay with her head pillowed back between her | ||
| + | hands, and the broad brim of her straw that flopped down to shade her | ||
| + | eyes. She could look up on either side to the sweep of grass, with the | ||
| + | wind twinkling in it—grass that rolled smoothly up to the gentle blue | ||
| + | sky beyond. On the one hand it was very near to her, that film of blue, | ||
| + | but to her right the narrow, bright heads of a young poplar grove pushed | ||
| + | up beyond the hilltop, and that made the sky fall back an immeasurable | ||
| + | distance. Not very much variety in that landscape, but there was an | ||
| + | infinite variety in the changes of the open-air silence. Overtones, all | ||
| + | of them—but what a range!</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bland, if she wearied of that lovely drift of clouds across the sky, | ||
| + | then she had only to raise herself upon one elbow and look down to the | ||
| + | broad, white band of the earth, and the startling blue of the ocean | ||
| + | beyond. She was a little way up among the hills, to be sure, but, in | ||
| + | spite of her elevation, when she looked out toward the horizon it seemed | ||
| + | that the sea was hollowed like a great bowl—that the horizon wave was | ||
| + | apt at any moment to roll in upon the beach and overwhelm her among the | ||
| + | hills.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sure. Particularly when the faint crease between her eyes told of a | ||
| + | perpetual worry and a strain under which she was now living. She was | ||
| + | trying to lose herself in forgetfulness, | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | brought her to attention at once. A shadow passed across her face, and | ||
| + | instantly she was sitting up, alert and excited.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | indeed. He wore white trousers and low white shoes, with a sack coat of | ||
| + | blue—a cool-looking man even on this sultry day. The cane, which he | ||
| + | insisted upon at all times, he had planted between his knees to help in | ||
| + | the process of lowering himself to the ground. Now he hooked the head | ||
| + | over his shoulder, pushed back his hat and smiled at the girl.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | hair of yours against the green grass. Everything is finished; the | ||
| + | license and the clergyman will arrive here within the hour."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | acquiescent, | ||
| + | was an artist in choosing remarks and moments which should not be | ||
| + | noticed. Apparently her silence made not even a ripple on the calm | ||
| + | surface of his assurance.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that she had come to respect and fear him more than ever. Even in that | ||
| + | sudden midnight departure from the house in Beekman Place, in that | ||
| + | unaccountable panic which made him decide to flee from the vicinity of | ||
| + | Ronicky Doone—even in that critical moment he had made sure that there | ||
| + | was a proper chaperon with them. During all her years with him he had | ||
| + | always taken meticulous care that she should be above the slightest | ||
| + | breath of suspicion—a strange thing when the work to which he had | ||
| + | assigned her was considered.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | wish, we'll move today after the ceremony. It's only a temporary halting | ||
| + | place, or it can be a more or less permanent home, just as you please."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | course she could direct him in small matters, but in such a thing as the | ||
| + | choice of a residence she knew that in the end he would absolutely have | ||
| + | his own way.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | long as you're contented."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | her since they left New York, and his hand left hers instantly.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | place to which we can't be followed."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fear of the Westerner. "Who else in the world would I care about for an | ||
| + | instant? Where no other has ever crossed me once successfully, | ||
| + | done so twice. That, you know, makes me begin to feel that my fate is | ||
| + | wrapped up in the young devil."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | suppose by this time he is in such a condition that he will never worry | ||
| + | another soul in the world."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chances are nine out of ten, at least, that he has not been badly hurt."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | if he made an attack, he was not to be harmed more than necessary to | ||
| + | disarm him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | all, my dear. A blow, a shot might have dropped him. But, unless it were | ||
| + | followed by a second, he would not be killed. Single shots and single | ||
| + | blows rarely kill, you know."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | upon her companion.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone—when I so heartily want him out of my way forever? I'll tell you. | ||
| + | If Doone were killed there would be a shadow between us at once. Not | ||
| + | that I believe you love him—no, that cannot be. He may have touched | ||
| + | your heart, but he cannot have convinced your head, and you are equal | ||
| + | parts of brain and soul, my dear. Therefore you cannot love him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | could never escape from an old conclusion that the girl must be in large | ||
| + | part his own product—he could never keep from attributing to her his | ||
| + | own motives.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | forced one of your men to tell him where we are, and then followed us at | ||
| + | once. He would be about due to arrive now. What if all that happened?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | be about due to arrive. I suppose, being a Westerner, that the first | ||
| + | thing he would do in the village would be to hire a horse to take him | ||
| + | out here, and he would come galloping yonder, where you see that white | ||
| + | road tossing over the hills."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | danger. It will be the third time that he has threatened me. And the | ||
| + | third time—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | tightening the muscles of her throat.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "you have to be ready for anything. Yes, I have prepared. If he comes | ||
| + | he'll come by the straightest route, certain that we don't expect him. | ||
| + | He'll run blindly into the trap. Yonder—you see where the two hills | ||
| + | almost close over the road—yonder is Shorty Kruger behind the rocks, | ||
| + | waiting and watching. A very good gunman is Shorty. Know him?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | where the road bends in toward us, you can see Lefty himself. I wired | ||
| + | him to come, and there he is."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Doone' | ||
| + | infallible Lefty!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | faced the sea.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | built inside that cove. You see? Then we can bring up a motor boat and | ||
| + | anchor it in there. Do you know much about boats?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | choose between a boat and a horse I don't know which I should—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | for silence they remained staring at one another, and the long, faint | ||
| + | echoes rolled across the hills.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | metallic clang always means a rifle shot."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | light of the sun they peered at the distant road, where, as he had | ||
| + | pointed out, the two hills leaned together and left a narrow footing | ||
| + | between.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | "It is Ronicky Doone!"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | before. A small trail of dust was blowing down the road, just below the | ||
| + | place where the two hills leaned together. Under it was the dimly | ||
| + | discernible, | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | dare-devil be destined to hunt me? I can gain nothing by his death but | ||
| + | your hate. And, if he succeeds in breaking through Lefty, as he has | ||
| + | broken through Kruger, even then he shall win nothing. I swear it!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fire—fear and joy were fighting in her face. In her ecstasy she was | ||
| + | clinging to the man beside her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | would do. Ah, I read his mind! Ronicky Doone, Ronicky Doone, was there | ||
| + | ever your like under the wide, wide sky? He's brushed Kruger out of his | ||
| + | way—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | then another and another, ringing from the place where the two hills | ||
| + | leaned over the road.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | apparently shot him down and didn't wait to finish him. Very clever work | ||
| + | on his part, but very sloppy. However, he seems to have wounded Kruger | ||
| + | so badly that my gunman can't hit his mark."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | road, more and more clearly discernible, | ||
| + | him ceased.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | seeming to enjoy the spectacle before him, as if it were a thing from | ||
| + | which he was entirely detached. "And Lefty can make his choice. Kruger | ||
| + | was his pal. If he wants to revenge the fall of Kruger he may shoot from | ||
| + | behind a tree. If not, he'll shoot from the open, and it will be an even | ||
| + | fight."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | moment she was crying: "Stop him, John—for Heaven' | ||
| + | stop him."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | John Mark. "That power is Lefty."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | house, and if he sees you—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | try to face him?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | concerned about me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and I tell you I know, as well as I know I'm standing here, that if you | ||
| + | face Ronicky Doone you'll go down."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | specialist, so I shall not face Doone."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | down on the grove in the hollow, where Lefty waited. And the girl was | ||
| + | torn between three emotions: Joy at the coming of the adventurer, fear | ||
| + | for him, terror at the thought of his meeting with Mark.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | take you from me."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gallop. There was no doubt about the identity of the man. They could not | ||
| + | make out his face, of course, at that distance, but something in the | ||
| + | careless dash of his seat in the saddle, something about the slender, | ||
| + | erect body cried out almost in words that this was Ronicky Doone. A | ||
| + | moment later the first treetops of the grove brushed across him, and he | ||
| + | was lost from view.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | he must have reached Lefty, and yet there was no sound of shooting. Had | ||
| + | Lefty found discretion the better part of valor and let him go by | ||
| + | unhindered? But, in that case, the swift gallop of the horse would have | ||
| + | borne the rider through the grove by this time.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | there?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | chivalrous than wise. He has stepped out into the road and ordered | ||
| + | Ronicky to stop, and Ronicky has stopped. Now he is sitting in his | ||
| + | saddle, looking down to Lefty, and they are holding a parley—very like | ||
| + | two knights of the old days, exchanging compliments before they try to | ||
| + | cut each other' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | a silence.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "It is as I said. They drew at a signal, and one of them proved far the | ||
| + | faster. It was a dead shot, for only one was needed to end the battle. | ||
| + | One of them is standing, the other lies dead under the shadow of that | ||
| + | grove, my dear. Which is it?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | with a joyous cry: " | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | into full view below them—unmistakably Ronicky Doone! Even at that | ||
| + | distance he heard the cry, and, throwing up his hand with a shout that | ||
| + | tingled faintly up to them, he spurred straight up the slope toward | ||
| + | them. Ruth Tolliver started forward, but a hand closed over her wrist | ||
| + | with a biting grip and brought her to a sudden halt. She turned to find | ||
| + | John Mark, an automatic hanging loosely in his other hand.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | gleaming, and his set lips trembled. "You were right," | ||
| + | cannot face him. Not that I fear death, but there would be a thousand | ||
| + | damnations in it if I died knowing that he would have you after my eyes | ||
| + | were closed. I told you he could not take you—not living, my dear. Dead | ||
| + | he may have us both."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | John, in the name of all the goodness you have showed me, don't do it."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | ever cared for, and still I can smile. I am about to die by my own hand, | ||
| + | and still I can smile. For the last time, will you stand up like your | ||
| + | old brave self?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | steel, and he raised the gun.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | turf of the hillside. Then she caught the report of a gun.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | bullet must have numbed, as it struck her. Presently a shooting pain | ||
| + | would pass through her body—then death.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | automatic lying on the ground, his hands clutching at his breast. Then | ||
| + | glancing to one side she saw the form of Ronicky Doone riding as fast as | ||
| + | spur would urge his horse, the long Colt balanced in his hand. That, | ||
| + | then, was the shot she had heard—a long-range chance shot when he saw | ||
| + | what was happening on top of the hill.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again, he was beside her, and they leaned over John Mark together. As | ||
| + | they did so Mark's eyes opened, then they closed again, as if with pain. | ||
| + | When he looked again his sight was clear.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | together, and actually wasting sympathy on me? Tush, tush! So rich in | ||
| + | happiness that you can waste time on me?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | that I have always cared for you, but as a brother, John, and not—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | die, and I wish you would put a bandage around me and send for some of | ||
| + | the men at the house to carry me up there. That bullet of yours—by | ||
| + | Harry, a very pretty snap shot—just raked across my breast, as far as I | ||
| + | can make out. Perhaps it broke a bone or two, but that's all. Yes, I am | ||
| + | to have the pleasure of living."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | first time in his life he allowed his indomitable spirit to relax, his | ||
| + | head fell to one side, and he lay in a limp faint.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <h2 id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | even the mountain desert forgets its sternness for a month or two. Six | ||
| + | months had not made Bill Gregg rich from his mine, but it had convinced | ||
| + | him, on the contrary, that a man with a wife must have a sure income, | ||
| + | even if it be a small one.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | having thrown up a four-room shack, he and Caroline lived as happily as | ||
| + | king and queen. Not that domains were very large, but, from their hut on | ||
| + | the hill, they could look over a fine sweep of country, which did not | ||
| + | all belong to them, to be sure, but which they constantly promised | ||
| + | themselves should one day be theirs.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | comes between three or four o' | ||
| + | wife sat in the shadow of the mighty silver spruce before their door. | ||
| + | The great tree was really more of a home for them than the roof they had | ||
| + | built to sleep under.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | looking down the hillside, she smiled in anticipation.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | urged her horse to a full gallop for the short remnant of the distance | ||
| + | before her. It was Ruth Tolliver who swung down from the saddle, | ||
| + | laughing and joyous from the ride.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the wind and the sun of the West, a more buoyant and more graceful | ||
| + | beauty. She had accepted none of the offers of John Mark, but, leaving | ||
| + | her old life entirely behind her, as Ronicky Doone had suggested, she | ||
| + | went West to make her own living. With Caroline and Bill Gregg she had | ||
| + | found a home, and her work was teaching the valley school, half a dozen | ||
| + | miles away.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | on her way to the school.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | want you to read it aloud, Caroline. Then we'll all put our heads | ||
| + | together and see if we can make out what it means." | ||
| + | letter to Caroline, who shook it out. " | ||
| + | exclaimed.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | other two raised their heads and cast silent glances at her.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Bill's place by about a month—"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | fact I started right pronto to get back on time, but something turned | ||
| + | up. You see, I went broke."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | back to gambling, Ruth?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | again, and a promise from Ronicky Doone is as good as minted gold."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | in a terrible hole, having fallen out with his old man, and Pete needed | ||
| + | a lift. Which of course I gave him pronto, Pete being a fine gent."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | old Ronicky, but such a wild man!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | I'll sure get a stake and come back, and then you and me can get | ||
| + | married, as soon as you feel like saying the word. The scheme is to find | ||
| + | a lost mine—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | at this idea. "My guns, is Ronicky plumb nutty? That's all he's got to | ||
| + | do—just find a 'lost mine?' Well, if that ain't plenty, may I never see | ||
| + | a yearling ag' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | and laughter, "and sink a new shaft, a couple of hundred feet to find | ||
| + | where the old vein—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | broke! Where' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | come or send for you and—"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | Tolliver. " | ||
| + | girl. But Ruth Tolliver shook her head.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | beautifully and terribly like Ronicky to write such a letter and tell of | ||
| + | such plans. He's given away a lot of money to help some spendthrift, | ||
| + | now he's gone to get more money by finding a lost mine!' But do you see | ||
| + | what it means, Caroline? It means that he doesn' | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | Ruth. "Of course you have reason to be sad about it and angry, too."< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | really angry with Ronicky? Hasn't he given me a chance to live a clean | ||
| + | life? Hasn't he given me this big free open West to live in? And what | ||
| + | would I be without Ronicky? What would have happened to me in New York? | ||
| + | Oh, no, not angry. But I've simply waked up, Caroline. I see now that | ||
| + | Ronicky never cared particularly about me. He was simply in love with | ||
| + | the danger of my position. As a matter of fact I don't think he ever | ||
| + | told me in so many words that he loved me. I simply took it for granted | ||
| + | because he did such things for me as even a man in love would not have | ||
| + | done. After the danger and uniqueness were gone Ronicky simply lost | ||
| + | interest."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | here—well, | ||
| + | get?"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | generally he gives it away pretty pronto."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | "No, the only way I can bring Ronicky is to surround myself with new | ||
| + | dangers, terrible dangers, make myself a lost cause again. Then Ronicky | ||
| + | would come laughing and singing, eager as ever. Oh, I think I know him!"</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | the trail they rode. The elder, bearded man, pointed ahead.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | We'll travel there, Ronicky, eh?"< | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | same instant. The two were strangely in touch with one another.</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | years—not since the big slide in the canyon. But I got a feeling I'd | ||
| + | sort of like to try it. Save a lot of time and give us a lot of fun."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | |||
| + | <p id=" | ||
| + | sound, unless you take a chance of breaking it, once in a while."</ | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
ronicky_doone.1394053666.txt.gz · Last modified: (external edit)