Kitabı oku: «Mason of Bar X Ranch», sayfa 4
CHAPTER VI – JOSEPHINE’S PERIL
After the men had left for the Ricker ranch, Josephine felt lonesome and, telling her mother she was going for a short ride, she hastily slipped into a khaki riding dress, for the air felt like rain. Her mother tried to persuade her not to go, as the halfbreed and Powers were at large and might do her harm if she should happen to run across them.
“You know, dear,” she said as a final argument, “Powers hasn’t liked you since you refused to let him pay you court, and it would be just like him to take up with that Mexican.”
“I know he hates Mr. Mason and would do him an injury if he got a chance,” she added.
“I guess the shoe pinches the other foot,” the girl answered with a happy laugh. “From what I have seen of Mr. Mason, Powers had better keep away from him. He seems perfectly able to take care of himself.”
The fond mother looked keenly at her daughter. Was it possible she was in love with this New Yorker? The question she asked herself struck home with heavy force. It had seemed only yesterday that she was carrying her in her arms. Now, as she looked, she realized her daughter was fast growing into womanhood.
Josephine was watching her mother in amusement.
“Cheer up, mother,” she cried with a laugh, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing her. “You look as though you had been to a funeral. I’m not going to elope or run away, I’m only going for a short ride, and just think of the old plug of a horse I’ve got to take. All the best ones are in use; darn that old Mexican, anyway, I hope Bud gets Fleet back for me,” she wound up, angrily stamping her foot.
“Bud will get him back for you if possible; run along now dear if you must go, and get home early as I think we are going to have a storm,” her mother said, smiling at her daughter’s outburst of anger.
Josephine kissed her again and tripped lightly to the corral. On her way she passed Mason’s car in the shed. “Wish I knew how to run the rig-ama-jig,” she mused to herself as her eyes caught sight of it. Arriving at the corral she soon had a saddle and bridle on the horse she had spoken so lightly to her mother about, and rode leisurely off in the direction of Devil’s Gap. The beast had seemed surprised to feel a saddle and rider on its back, and started to cut all sorts of capers. The animal had been discarded for some time as a range horse, and was now used for pack carrying. Josephine was pleased at the ginger it displayed, but felt sad and blue again when she thought of how her own fast horse, Fleet, had been stolen from her. She allowed the animal to set its own pace as her thoughts traveled back over the events of the past twenty-four hours. The cowboys had been gone about four hours when she started on her ride, and she figured she would go towards Devil’s Gap and return home about the same time they would arrive.
Josephine had ridden about ten miles when the first flash of lightning warned her that she would have to change her plans and start back. Just ahead, the trail branched off towards the Ricker ranch. At this point there was a large cottonwood tree on a slight elevation, where she could command a view of the surrounding country. The girl determined to ride to the cottonwood, then turn back for home, as she thought she could make it before the storm broke. As she drew up to the cottonwood she dismounted to stretch her limbs as the ride had tired her, for she was more used to riding her own horse.
She climbed the slight rise and stood leaning against the tree taking in the view when she heard a step behind her. The girl turned in sudden terror, to find herself confronted by Powers. She realized instantly that he must have been hiding behind the tree and had watched her approach. She hated the man intensely, and as he stood there before her smiling, her dislike increased. She drew herself up and coldly waited for him to speak. “Did I scare you, my proud little maid?” he put the question suddenly, his eyes drinking in her girlish beauty.
“What were you hiding here for, Powers?” Josephine questioned, her anger rising. “The men are looking for the halfbreed, and if they run into you, you won’t fare any better than he will, for they will string him up.” The man’s eyes glittered.
“They won’t find me or the halfbreed,” he said with a savage oath. “So, you have joined forces with the Mexican,” the girl spoke with cutting emphasis. “I thought as much, he’s just about your speed, Powers.” The man saw his slip and winced. Josephine saw she had hit the truth and regarded him scornfully. Her words had seemed to raise a fury in the man, and the girl began to fear him, though she tried hard to appear natural.
“Don’t come any of your high-toned airs on me,” he cried, his voice thick with passion. “Since that New Yorker come here you’ve been too nice for common folks. I know you’re dead stuck on him, but you’ll never marry him, I’ll kill him first.”
Josephine faced him pale and resolute. “You, you beast,” her words rang out with withering scorn. “You’re not fit to breathe the same air he does. I’ll tell Bud about your threat and he will run you out of the country.” At the last words the girl started to leap on her horse. “No, you don’t,” the man grated, darting swiftly after her and grabbing her brusquely by the arm. Josephine swung around, something bright glistening in her hand; it was a small Colt revolver she always carried.
“Take your hands off me, you brute,” she cried, leveling the weapon at him. Her voice was trembling between fear and hate. “Stand back, or so help me God, I’ll shoot!” Powers recoiled. He could see that the girl was in deadly earnest, and sought to modify his tone. “Now, you know, Josephine, I didn’t mean you any harm,” he began in a wheedling voice. “I’m taking no chances with you,” the girl answered sharply. “I’m going to hold you here until some of the boys show up, if I have to keep you here all night. There’s the dead line, cross it at your peril.” She pointed to an imaginary line halfway between them. Powers’ eyes glowed and a crafty look came into them. “There comes one of your friends, now,” he cried suddenly, pointing behind her.
Not suspecting a ruse Josephine turned and looked over her shoulder, her weapon half lowered. Too late she saw her mistake as she heard a hiss above her.
A lariat thrown by the skillful hand of the halfbreed had settled about her waist, pinning her arms helplessly to her side.
The girl realized with a sinking heart that the halfbreed had been hiding in the tree all the time, and along with Powers he had watched her movements from the start.
She struggled desperately to free herself, but the tough lariat only cut deeper into her arms.
Powers watched her frantic efforts with a gloating smile.
“We could have captured you long ago,” he said with his sneering laugh, as the halfbreed slid down out of the tree at his feet. “Only we wanted to hear which you had to say about that gang of fools that are trailing the halfbreed.”
The Mexican leered at her.
“I fool them quick,” he boasted.
Josephine gave him a look of contempt.
“What did you want to capture me for?” she asked, looking Powers straight in the eye. “Bud Anderson will kill you both if you harm me.”
Once more her words threw the man into a furious passion.
“I’m going to lay for him and that upstart Mason, and I’ll get them both,” he ground out the words with an oath. “And as for you, my proud beauty, I am going to make you my wife, or mistress, just as you choose.”
“Are you mad?” Josephine gasped in terror, shrinking away from him.
Powers had turned his back to her and was talking in a low voice to the Mexican. Josephine shivered. It was getting dark and had started to rain hard. Her heart sank lower as she realized she was completely in the power of these outlaws.
“Oh, if some of the cowboys would only show up,” she wailed to herself.
After a short consultation between the two men, the halfbreed left on some mission.
“Pull yourself together,” Powers ordered her roughly. “The halfbreed has gone for our horses just over the knoll, and we will be a good many miles from here by morning.”
“You mean that he has gone to get my horse,” Josephine flared up at him indignantly. Powers chuckled maliciously.
“The Mexican wouldn’t trade your horse, Fleet, for any horse in the country,” he said shortly.
Josephine lapsed into silence. The halfbreed was returning with the horses.
“Jump up behind the Mexican on your own horse. We can make better time that way until we reach the foothills, then you’ve got to ride this old nag again,” Powers commanded her roughly, giving her a lift.
The girl obeyed. It gave her some courage to find herself on her own horse once more, and there was always the chance, she thought, that she might outwit them and escape. In this manner they rode, Powers bringing up the rear and leading the spare horse. The rain fell in torrents, drenching the poor girl to the skin. To her great relief it ceased raining a half hour later and she knew their trail would show clear again.
The men were talking earnestly as though in a difference of opinion as they rode along as fast as possible with one horse carrying double. To her great dismay they conversed in Spanish, but from an occasional lapse into English, she understood that they feared their trail would be picked up by Bud and his men. She heard Buck Miller’s name spoken and knew they feared his wonderful ability to follow almost any trail.
Josephine felt more resigned now, for when Bud’s men returned from Ricker’s and found her missing, she was sure they would lose no time in picking up her trail, as the rain had ceased just in time. Even if the rain had washed all traces of it away early in the evening, they would be sure to pick up the fresh trail after the rain, she reasoned. Listening closely to the outlaw’s talk from the words dropped in English, she made out that the halfbreed had been hotly pressed by Bud’s men the day before, but by his superior knowledge of the mountains he had at last baffled them. The halfbreed had circled the foothills and made for Ricker’s just as Bud’s men thought he would.
On arriving there, he encountered Powers, who had made directly for the same place after Mason had been wounded. At the ranch, Powers had informed the halfbreed that Mason had escaped serious injury at his hands, and proposed a scheme to get Josephine in their power. The Mexican at once agreed to the plot and they had worked out their plans accordingly. Powers, who was the brains of the two, figured that Bud would visit Ricker with the hope of getting trace of the halfbreed, and proposed that they leave the ranch at once.
The halfbreed assented, and Powers after cautioning Ricker to keep silent about their visit, the two conspirators left hurriedly, taking a roundabout way to the Bar X ranch. It was their plan to ride boldly to the ranch and take Josephine away by force, as they counted on Bud’s men being on their way to Ricker’s. The scheme worked out better than they had expected, for the halfbreed had keen eyes and had seen Josephine in the distance in time for them to make a dash for the cottonwood tree. There they concealed themselves and waited for the girl to come up, as has been related. The outlaws rode hard with their captive and made the foothills just as the first streak of dawn appeared. Here, the captive was compelled to ride the horse she had ridden when captured, Powers explaining that the mountain trail was too dangerous and he didn’t dare risk having one horse carrying double.
The girl was nearly exhausted and begged to rest a while, but Powers harshly told her she was only trying to hold them up to gain time.
“We’ve got a retreat in the mountains that only myself and the Mexican know about,” he explained to her, watching closely to note the effect of his words. “And when your friends come looking for you, we will have a surprise waiting for them.”
For an answer the girl gave him a look of hate.
“I’ll break that haughty spirit of yours,” he threatened, his face dark with anger.
“You coward!” Josephine cried, her eyes blazing, “and you call yourself a man.”
Powers grinned. He secretly admired her spirit.
Two hours later they were high in the mountains and when Powers finally called a halt, the place seemed to Josephine like a natural fortress. The retreat lay in a small plateau and was reached only through a narrow defile. It commanded a view for miles around, and as familiar as the girl was with the mountains she never had seen this place. It was a more perfect retreat than Devil’s Gap, and Josephine’s heart sank when she remembered that Powers had said that only he and the halfbreed knew of the place.
Powers was watching her expression of despair as she thought of her slim chances of escaping unaided from the place, and her helplessness seemed to amuse the man.
“How do you like your cage, my pretty bird? Welcome to my home,” he said with an attempt at levity.
“You devil,” Josephine answered hotly, “don’t imagine that you can keep me here; the boys will find this place and your life won’t be worth as much as a snake’s.”
Powers laughed contemptuously and left her. The girl threw herself down on the ground completely exhausted. She lay there trying to keep back a burst of tears while she could hear the men moving about her. There was a sort of a shanty near a wall that rose on all sides of the plateau and she knew the men were preparing a meal. The smell of coffee and bacon cooking made her hungry. It was the first thought of hunger since she had started on her fateful ride.
Finally Powers came and brought her a steaming cup of coffee and a plate of bacon.
“Come, girl,” he said, with an attempt at kindness, “you must try to eat something.”
Josephine accepted the food. She knew if she was to keep up her strength she must eat, and she was almost starved. When she had finished eating, Powers pointed to the shanty.
“You are to sleep in there,” he told her briefly, “and I advise you to get some sleep now. There is a fine bunk in there, and don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on the halfbreed and see that he don’t bother you.”
“Who will watch you?” Josephine answered, eyeing him coldly.
“Oh, come, Josephine, and be sensible, I will give you all kinds of time to learn to like me,” he answered, trying to appear humble.
“Small chance of me ever liking you after what you have done,” she replied bitterly, turning from him in loathsome disgust.
Josephine was dead tired and went to the shanty to rest, but not to sleep, as she felt she couldn’t trust the man. She lay there forming plan after plan to escape, only to cast them aside as useless.
The day passed rapidly, and towards night she wandered about looking her prison over and trying to find a means of escape. She knew the men were watching her movements closely. They were sitting out near a fire as the night was chilly. Later they started to play cards and gamble, but she knew they were still watching her closely.
Seeing no possible way of escape she went back to the shanty and threw herself down on the bunk in despair. As she lay there looking through a crack in the roof at the stars, she could hear the men swearing and still at their card game. Suddenly she sat bolt upright. The men were talking in English now, and she caught a word that caused her to listen breathlessly.
She heard the name of Mason and Bud spoken, and the conversation that followed caused her blood to run cold. It was a diabolical plot that they were planning to run Bud and his men into a trap carefully set for them. All of a sudden the talking ceased, and she heard one of the outlaws glide stealthily up to her shanty. Josephine’s heart almost stopped beating as she feigned sleep. The footsteps halted and she was conscious of eyes looking in on her through the one small window. After a brief moment, that seemed ages to the frightened girl, the footsteps softly retreated.
“She’s asleep,” she heard Powers say, after which they resumed their conversation.
The plot had been formed by Powers, and as he unfolded it word for word to the Mexican, Josephine could hardly keep herself from screaming. The plan was for Powers to take her away and force her to marry him. The halfbreed was to go with them, and as the two had a little money saved, they were to strike some town near the coast and start a gambling house.
First, Powers was to write a decoy note and the halfbreed was to take it to Ricker’s and get the Spanish girl Waneda to deliver it.
The note was to be addressed to Mason and worded in such a way as to make him think it was written by the Spanish girl herself. The note was to state that Waneda had discovered Josephine’s captors’ place of concealment, and wishing to repay him for his kindness to her when he had protected her from the halfbreed, she had hastened to him at once with the information. It was to be a clever forgery by Powers, using Waneda as the innocent tool.
Powers figured by the time that Waneda got the note to Bar X ranch, the cowboys would have become frantic in their failure to find Josephine, and would fall easy prey to the trap set for them.
Waneda after delivering the note was to ride back at once to Ricker’s.
Waneda was to be especially instructed not to deliver the note to Mason, but to give it to one of the cowboys, the plan being to let her get away before Mason could question her. The note was to state that Bud and his men were to go to Devil’s Gap and they could surprise Josephine’s captors and rescue her.
The halfbreed was to bring back some men from Ricker’s and all make for Devil’s Gap to lie in wait for Bud’s men and wipe them out.
The plot was cold-blooded and as Josephine listened as it was unfolded to the halfbreed her blood boiled. She thought only of Bud and his brave men running into certain death. There was a stir outside and Josephine knew that the halfbreed had departed on his mission of evil. The girl lay quiet and wide awake until almost morning, racking her brains for some way of warning Bud. She had heard the halfbreed return two hours before. He knew the mountains like a book and the shortest way through them. Hot and cold flashes passed through her body as she at last broke down and began to cry piteously. All was silent outside and she tried to stifle her sobs. She wondered what would become of herself if Bud’s men were all killed.
Powers was sure to carry out his threat and marry her. She resolved to kill herself before that. Death would be far better, she reasoned, than to let herself fall into this fiend’s power. The man was more of a devil than she had pictured him.
It was still dark inside the shanty, but she knew it must be getting close to the break of day.
Suddenly she sat up straight, her nerves rigid, while her blood almost froze in her veins.
She had heard a rustling near her, and something cold was pressed against her arm.
With all her command of will power she kept herself from screaming. The rustling continued and a low whine caused her to open her eyes wide in astonishment. It was her pet dog Rover by her side and it was the cold muzzle of his nose which had caused her fright. He stood beside her, his tail wagging and with a look of devotion in his fine eyes. He had found his mistress. Josephine threw her arms around him, her heart pounding wildly. She was overjoyed, and as she looked at him a sudden idea flashed into her mind.
“Dear old Rover,” the girl spoke in a soft whisper. “You must be very quiet now. I am in great danger. Listen, Rover, I want you to go right home, do you understand? Go right home at once, and I am going to tie a message to your collar.”
The intelligent creature wagged its tail as though he were trying to understand her.
Luckily, Josephine had a stump of a pencil in her riding habit, and finding a piece of an old newspaper in the dim light, she twisted the bit of paper in her handkerchief and fastened it to Rover’s collar.
The missive ran:
The note you received front the Spanish girl is a decoy. For God’s sake turn back Bud and his men. Powers and the halfbreed with his men are waiting at Devil’s Gap to wipe them out. I am held a captive by Powers in the mountains about three miles east from Devil’s Gap. The place is like a fortress. Come quick if you would save me.
Josephine.
“Go home, Rover, home,” the girl breathed softly, pushing the dog gently from her.
She had to repeat the words sharply, and finally with a low whine he gave a bound and vanished in the gray mist of dawn. One of the men was astir, and the faint noise made by the dog caused him to send a shot whistling into the bushes. Powers had fired the shot, for Josephine heard the halfbreed call to him and ask what he was shooting at.
“I don’t know,” she heard him answer in alarm. “I thought I heard something move out there and took a snap shot.”
He came swiftly over and looked in on Josephine.
“Are you all right?” he called loudly to her.
“Yes,” she answered sleepily, though her heart was beating wildly. “I thought I heard someone shoot.”
Powers made no reply to this. Josephine’s mind was in an agony of torment as she heard the men beating the bushes and searching the rocks. Soon she heard them returning.
“Whatever it was I made a hit,” she heard Powers say. “I found a drop of blood on the rocks out there. I’m sure it was an animal of some kind.”
Josephine listened, and her heart grew heavy. Then she thought that if Rover had been hit and was able to get away, she reasoned that he would be sure to make for home all the faster. The thought gave her courage, and she rose quickly and washed. She tried to eat a little breakfast which the men offered her, but the food seemed to choke her. The outlaws were making preparations to leave. Josephine knew what their dastardly mission was, and she felt sick and dizzy.
She saw Powers coming towards her with a piece of tough rawhide in his hand.
“I am going to tie you up so you can’t run away. You can holler all you want to, but there won’t anybody hear you,” he said with a grin.
Josephine threw herself down wearily on the bunk in the shanty. The outlaw had tied her hands securely behind her back. She worked frantically trying to free her hands, but gave it up as useless for the tough rawhide cut her wrists until they bled. She turned her face to the wall with a heavy sob and a prayer on her lips that her dog would arrive home in time to save Bud and his men from certain death. Her only hope was to wait patiently and pray that some of the cowboys would be able to break through the cordon of outlaws lying in wait for them.
