Kitabı oku: «Wunpost», sayfa 7
It might even be that he was secretly in love with her, as she had read of other lovers in books; and that all the time, unknown to her, he was worshiping her beauty from afar. For she was beautiful, she knew it–and others had told her so–and there are few girls indeed that have curling hair and dimples, but Nature had given her both. And now if he did not kiss her, or speak from his heart, it would be because she was dressed like a boy; and she would have to lay aside her overalls forever. For no one can hope to retain everything in this world, and life is ours to be lived; and if worst came to worst, she might give up her freedom and consent to wear millinery and skirts. She sighed and followed on, and came safely to the portal which looked out on the great world below.
Wunpost sat down deliberately at the mouth of the tunnel, on the broad seat she had built along the wall, and handed Wilhelmina the package; and as she sank down beside him the panting fox terrier slumped down at her feet and wheezed. But Billy failed to notice this sign of affection, for as the package was broken open a dainty case was exposed and this in turn revealed a pair of glasses. Not ordinary, cheap field-glasses with rusty round barrels and lenses that refracted the colors of the rainbow; but exquisitely small ones, with square shoulders on the sides and quality showing in every line. She caught them up ecstatically and looked out across the Sink; and Wunpost let her gaze, though her focus was all wrong, while he made his little speech.
“Now,” he said, “next time you see my dust you’ll know whether it’s a man or a dog.”
“Oh, aren’t they fine!” exclaimed Billy, swinging the glasses on Blackwater. “I can see every house in town. And there’s a man on the trail–yes, and another one behind–I believe they’re coming this way.”
“Probably Pisen-face Lynch,” observed Wunpost unconcernedly, “I expected him to be on my trail.”
“Why, what for?” murmured Billy still struggling with the focus. “Oh, now I can see them fine! Oh, aren’t these just wonderful–and such little things, too–are you going to use them to hunt horses?”
“No, they’re yours!” returned Wunpost with a generous swagger, “I’ve got another pair of my own. I’ll never forget how you picked me up that time, so this is a kind of present.”
“A present!” gasped Wilhelmina and then she paused and blushed, for of course she had known it all the time. They were small glasses, for a lady, but it was nice of him to say it, and to mention her finding him on the desert. And now her mother would have to let her keep them, for, they were in remembrance of her saving his life.
“It’s awful kind of you,” she said, “and I’ll never forget it–and now, won’t you show me how they work?”
She drew a little closer, and as her curls brushed his cheek Wunpost reeled as if from a blow.
“Sure,” he said and gave her a kiss just as if she had really asked for it.
CHAPTER XIII
WITH HAY HOOKS
It is no more than right that the first kiss should be forgiven, especially if no one is to blame, and Wilhelmina forgave him very sweetly; but there was a wild, hunted look in Wunpost’s bold eyes and he wondered what would happen next. Something had come over him very suddenly and made him forget the restraint which all ladies, even in overalls, laid upon him; and when their hands had touched some great force had drawn them together and he had kissed her before she knew it. But instead of resisting she had yielded for a moment, and then pushed him away very slowly; and he still remembered, like part of a dream, her heart beating against his breast. But it was all over now, and she was toying with the field-glasses which he had brought from the city as a present.
“Isn’t it wonderful,” she said, “how we first came together? And the first place I looked for when you gave me these glasses was that wash where you made your two fires.”
“If you’d had them then,” ventured Wunpost at last, “you’d’ve been able to see me plain.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “but I found you anyhow. Doesn’t it seem a long time ago? And it was only the end of last May.”
“Something doing every minute,” burst out Wunpost gaily, “say, I’ve found two mines this summer! What did old Eells think of the Stinging Lizard? I hooked him right on that–he’ll be careful what he grabs next time. And when he jumps the next claim of mine I reckon he’ll sink a few feet before he builds any more ten thousand dollar roads!”
He chuckled and ran his hand through his tumbled hair, which always stood straight on end, but Billy was looking at him curiously.
“Mr. Eells was up to see us,” she said at last, “and he claims you salted that mine. And he even told Father that you located it up our canyon just on purpose so we could use his road!”
“And what did you say?” inquired Wunpost teasingly. “Didn’t I tell you, right here, I was going to do it?”
“Oh, but you were just fooling!” she protested laughing, “and I told him you did nothing of the kind. And then Father stepped in, when he heard what we were talking about, and he told Mr. Eells what he thought of him.”
“No, but I did salt the mine!” spoke up Wunpost quickly, “there wasn’t any fooling there. And, being as I had to locate it somewhere–well, the chances are Eells was correct.”
“Oh, that’s just the way you talk!” she burst out incredulously; “did you honestly do it on purpose?”
“Well, I guess I did!” boasted Wunpost. “I just stopped over in Blackwater and told Mr. Eells all about it. So don’t be worried on my account–and he built you a mighty good road.”
“Yes, but do you think it was quite right,” began Billy indignantly, “to make Father seem a party to a fraud? It’s what some people would call a very shady transaction; but I suppose, of course, you’re proud of it!”
“Why, sure I am!” returned Wunpost warmly, “and you don’t need to be so high and mighty. I guess I’m just as good as your old man or anybody, and I notice he’s using the road!”
“He won’t though,” answered Billy, “if I tell him what’s happened! My father is honest, he works for what he gets, and that road is just the same as stolen!”
“Well, go ahead and tell him!” challenged Wunpost angrily. “We’ll come to a show-down, right now. And anybody that’s too good to use my road is too good to associate with me!” He brought down his big fist into the palm of his hand and Wilhelmina jumped at the smack. “Didn’t I tell you,” he demanded rising and pointing at her accusingly, “didn’t I say I was going to build that road? Well, why didn’t you kick about it then? You were game to follow me up and jump my mine so your father could build him a road; but the minute I trim old Eells, who has robbed you of a million, by grab, all of a sudden you get good! You can’t bear to use a road that that old skinflint built, thinking he’d robbed me of another rich mine! No, that wouldn’t be right, that’s a shady transaction! All right then, don’t use the doggoned road!”
He smashed his fist into his hand in a final sweeping gesture of disdain and Wilhelmina gazed at him fixedly.
“I thought you were just talking,” she said at last, “but don’t you ever tell Father what’s happened. If you do he’ll never use the road–or if he does, he’ll pay Mr. Eells for it. He tries to be honest in everything.”
“Yes, and look what it gets him!” cried Wunpost passionately, “he’s spent half his life in this hell-hole of a canyon and you’re chasing around here in overalls! And then when some crook like me comes along and gives him a ten thousand dollar road this is all the thanks he gets! I’m through–you can rustle for yourself!”
“Very well!” returned Billy with a wild gleam in her eye, “and if you don’t like my overalls─”
“I do!” he broke in, “I like ’em fine–like ’em better than those flimsy danged skirts! But if you’re too good to use my road─”
“It isn’t that,” interrupted Billy, “I’m glad you built the road, but Father looks at it differently. He told Mr. Eells he wouldn’t be a party to any such scheme to defraud. But–now it’s all built–don’t tell him how you did it; because I want him to have a little happiness. He’s been working so long and this came, as he said, just like an act of Providence; so let’s not tell him, and when he’s taken out his ore he can pay Mr. Eells, if he wishes to.”
“If he’s crazy!” corrected Wunpost. “What, pay that crook? Say, do you see those two men on the trail? They’re hired by Eells to tag along behind me and trail me to my mine. Now what right has he got to claim that mine? Did he ever give me a dollar to spend, while I was up there in the high country looking for it? He did not, and he stole every dollar I had before I ever went out to prospect. Didn’t he rob us both of the Willie Meena–take it all without giving us a cent? Well, what’s the sense of trying to treat him white, when you know he’s out to do you? His name is Eells and he skins ’em alive! But you wait–I’m out to skin him!”
“You’re awfully convincing,” conceded Billy smiling tremulously, “but somehow it doesn’t seem right. Just because he robs you─”
“Aw, forget it; forget it!” exclaimed Wunpost impatiently, “didn’t I tell you this is no Sunday school picnic? What’re you going to do, let him go on robbing everybody until he has all the money in the world? No, you’ve got to play the game–go after him with the hay hooks and get his back hair if you can! I’ve trimmed him of twenty thousand and a ten thousand dollar road, but where did he get all that coin? He took it out of our mine, the old Willie Meena, and a whole lot more besides. Well, whose money was it, anyway–didn’t I own the mine first? All right, then, I reckon it was mine!”
He patted his pocket, where his roll of bills lay, and smiled roguishly as he grabbed up the dog.
“Fine pup, eh?” he began, “well, he picked me out himself–followed along when I was going down the street. Tried to lose him and couldn’t do it, he followed me everywhere, so I kept him and called him Good Luck. Get the idea? Luck is my pup, he lays down and rolls over whenever I say the word. Going to make a fine watch-dog if he lives through this hot weather–how’d you like to keep him a while?”
“Oh, I’d like to!” beamed Billy, “only I’m afraid you might be jealous─”
“Not of no pup, kid,” returned Wunpost with his lordliest swagger, “and if you steal him, by grab you can have him!”
“Well, I’ll bet I can do it!” answered Billy defiantly. “And are you still going to give me that mine?”
“If you can find it!” nodded Wunpost. “Or I’ll give it to Mr. Lynch, if he’ll promise to follow the leader. I see that’s an Injun that he’s got riding along behind him but I’m going to lose ’em both. These Shooshonnies ain’t so much–I can out-trail ’em, any time–and I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to lead Mr. Lynch and his rat-eating guide just as long as they’re game to follow, and if they follow me two weeks I’ll take ’em to my mine and tell ’em to help themselves. Now that’s sporting, ain’t it? Because the Sockdolager ain’t staked and she’s the richest hole I’ve struck.”
“Yes, it’s sporting,” she admitted, “but why don’t you stake it? Are you afraid they’ll take it away from you?”
“Don’t you think it!” he exclaimed, “if it was staked I’d have half of it! No, I’m doing this out of pride. I’m leaving that claim open and if Mr. Eells can find it he’s welcome to it all! But I’m telling you, it’ll never be found!”
He nodded impressively, with a wise, mysterious, smile, and Billy rose up impatiently.
“I believe you like to fight,” she stated accusingly and Wunpost did not deny it.
CHAPTER XIV
POISONED BAIT
The fight for the Sockdolager Mine was on and Wunpost led off up the canyon with a swagger. His fast walking mule stepped off at a brisk pace and the pack-mule, well loaded with provisions and grain, followed along up Judson Eells’ road. First it led through the Gorge, now clinging to one wall and now crossing perforce to the other, and as Wunpost saw the work of the powder-men above him he laughed and slapped his leg. Great masses of rock had been shot down from the sides, filling up the pot-holes which the cloudburst had dug; and then, along the sides, a grade had been constructed which gave clearance for loaded trucks. Past the Gorge, the work showed the signs of greater haste, as if Eells had driven his men to the limit; but to get through at all he had had to move much dirt, and that of course had run into money. Wunpost ambled along luxuriously, chuckling at each heavy job of blasting and at the spot where Cole Campbell’s road turned in; and then he swung off up Woodpecker Canyon to where the Stinging Lizard Mine had been located.
Great timbers still lay where they had been dumped from the trucks, there was a concrete foundation for the engine; and a double-compartment shaft, sunk on the salted vein, showed what great expectations had been blasted. With the Willie Meena still sinking on high-grade ore, Judson Eells had taken a good deal for granted when he had set out to develop the Stinging Lizard. He had squared out his shaft and sunk on the vein only as far as the muckers could throw out the waste; and then, instead of installing a windlass or a whim, he had decided upon a gallows-frame and hoist. But to bring in his machinery he must first have a road, for the trail was all but impassable; and so, without sinking, he had blasted his way up the canyon, only to find his efforts wasted. The ore had been dug out before his engine was installed, thus saving him even greater loss; but every dollar that he had put into the work had been absolutely thrown away. Wunpost camped there and gloated and then, shortly after midnight, he set off with his tongue in his cheek.
The time had now come when he was to match wits with Lynch in the old game of follow-my-leader and, even with the Indian to do Lynch’s tracking, he had no fears for the outcome. There were places on those peaks where a man could travel for miles without placing his foot on soft ground, and other places in Death Valley where he could travel in sand that was so powdery it would bog a butterfly. First the high places, to wear them out and make Pisen-face Lynch get quarrelsome; and then the desolate Valley, with its heat and poison springs, to put the final touch to his revenge. For it was revenge that Wunpost sought, revenge on Pisen-face Lynch, who had driven him from two claims with a gun; and this chase over the hills, which had started so casually, had really been planned for months. It was part of that “system” which he had developed so belatedly, by which his enemies were all to be confounded; and, knowing that Lynch would follow wherever he led, Wunpost had made his plans accordingly. He was leading the way into a trap, long set, which was sure to enmesh its prey.
At daylight Wunpost paused in his steady, plunging climb and looked back over the rock-slides and boulders; and while his mules munched their grain well back out of sight he focussed his new field glasses and watched. From the knife-blade ridge up which he had spurred and scrambled the whole country lay before him like a relief map, and in the particular gash-like canyon where he had located the Stinging Lizard he made out his furtive pursuers. The Indian was ahead, leaning over in his saddle as he kept his eyes on the trail; and Lynch rode behind, a heavy rifle beneath his knee, scanning the ridges to prevent a surprise. But neither led a pack-horse and when Wunpost had looked his fill he put up his glasses and smiled.
In the country where he was going there was no grass for those horses, no browse that even an Indian pony could travel on; and if they wanted to keep up with him and his grain-fed mules they would have to use quirt and spurs. And the man who feeds his horse on buckskin alone is due to walk back to camp. So reasoned John C. Calhoun from his cow-puncher days, when he had tried out the weaknesses of horseflesh; and as he returned to the grassy swale where his mules were hid he looked them over proudly. His riding mule, Old Walker, was still in his prime, a big-bellied animal with the long reach in its fore-shoulders which made it by nature a fast walker; and his pack-mule, equally round-bellied to store away food, was short-bodied as well so that he bore his pack easily without any tendency to give down. He had been raised with Old Walker and would follow him anywhere, without being dragged by a rope, so that Wunpost had both hands for any emergency which might arise and could keep his eyes on the trail.
And to think that these noble animals, big and black and beautifully gaited, had been bought with Judson Eells’ own money; while he, poor fool, sent Lynch out after him on a miserable Indian cayuse. Wunpost’s road was always plain, for where he went they must follow, but at every rocky point or granite-strewn flat they must circle and cut for his trail. As he rode on now to the north he did not double and twist, for the Indian would know the old trail; but the tracks he had left behind him before he mounted to the ridge were as aimless as it was possible to make them. They did not strike out boldly up some hogback or canyon but at every fork and bend they turned this way and that, as if he were hopelessly lost. And now as he rode on, unobserved by his pursuers, over the well-worn Indian trail along the summit, Lynch and his tracker were far behind, tracing his mule-tracks to and fro, up and down the broiling hot canyons.
On the summit it was cool and the grass was still green, for the snow had held late on the peaks, and the junipers and piñons had given place to oaks and limber pines which stood up along the steep slopes like switches. The air was sweet and pure, all the world lay below him; but, as the heat came on, the abyss of Death Valley was lost in a pall of black haze. It gathered from nowhere, smoke-like and yet not smoke; a haze, a murk, a mass of writhing heat like the fumes from a witches’ cauldron. Wunpost had simmered in that cauldron, and he would simmer again soon; but gladly, if he had Lynch for company. It was follow-my-leader and, since there were no long wharves to jump off of, Wunpost had decided upon the Valley of Death. And if, in following after him to rob him of his mine, Pisen-face Lynch should succumb to the heat, that might justly be considered a visitation of Providence to punish him for his misspent life. Or at least so Wunpost reasoned and, remembering the gun under Lynch’s knee, he decided to keep well in the lead.
Wunpost camped that night at the upper water in Wild Rose Canyon, letting his mules get a last feed of grass; and the next morning at daylight he was up and away on the long trail that led down to Death Valley. But first it led north over a broad, sandy plain, where Indian ponies were grazing in stray bands; and then, after ten miles, it swung off to the east where it broke through the hills and turned down. After that it was a jump-off for six thousand feet, from the mountain-top to down below sea-level; and, before he lost himself in the gap between the hills, Wunpost paused and looked back across the plain.
This was the door to his trap, for at the edge of the rim the trail split in twain; the Wet Trail leading past water while the Dry Trail was shorter, but dry. And as live bait is best he unpacked and waited patiently until he spied his pursuers in the pass. They were not five miles away, coming down the narrow draw which marked the turn in the trail, and after a long look Wunpost put up his glasses and saddled and packed to go. Yet still he lingered on, looking back through the shimmering heat that seemed to make the yellow earth blaze; until at last they were so near that he could see them point ahead and bring their tired horses to a stop. Then he whipped out his pistol and shot back at them defiantly, turning off up the Dry Trail at a trot.
They followed, but cautiously, as if anxious to avoid a conflict and Wunpost swung off between the points of two hills and led them on down the dry canyon. If they took the Wet Trail, which the Indian knew, he might double back and give them the slip; but now there was no water till they had descended to sea level and crossed the treacherous corduroy to Furnace Creek. The trap was sprung, they were committed to the adventure, to follow him wherever he might lead; and Wunpost never stopped spurring until he had descended the steep canyon and led them out in the dry wash below. It was like climbing down a wall into a sink-hole of boiling heat, but Lynch did not weaken and Wunpost bowed his head and took the main trail to the ranch.
The sun swung low behind the rim of the Panamints, throwing a shadow across the broad canyon below; ten miles to the east, under the heat and haze, lay Furnace Creek Ranch and rest; but as his pursuers came on, just keeping within sight of him, Wunpost turned off sharply to the north. He quit the trail and struck out across the boulder-patches towards the point of Tucki Mountain, and if they followed him there it would be into a country that even the Indians were afraid of. It was there that Death Valley had earned its name, when a party of Mormon emigrants had died beside their ox-teams after drinking the water at Salt Creek. There was Stove-pipe Hole, with the grave close by of the man who had not stopped to bail the hole; and, nearest of all, was Poison Spring, the worst water in all Death Valley. Wunpost turned out and started north, daring his enemies to follow, and Lynch accept the challenge–alone.
The Indian rode on, leaving the white man to his fate and heading for Furnace Creek Ranch; and Wunpost, sweating streams and cursing to himself, flogged on toward Poison Spring. It was a hideous thing to do, but Lynch had chosen to follow him and his blood would be upon his own head. Wunpost had given him the trail, to go on to the ranch while he turned back the way they had come; but no, Lynch was bull-headed, or perhaps the heat had warped his judgment–in any case he had elected to follow. The last courtesies were past, Wunpost had given him his chance, and Lynch had taken his trail like a bloodhound; he could not claim now that he was going in the same direction–he was following along after him like a murderer. Perhaps the slow fever of the terrible heat had turned his anger into an obsession to kill, for Wunpost himself was beginning to feel the desert madness and he set out deliberately to lure him.
Where the black and frowning ramparts of Tucki Mountain thrust out towards the edge of the Sink a spring of stinking water rises up from the ground and runs off into the marsh. From the peaks above, it is a bright strip of green at which the wary mountain sheep gaze longingly; but down in that rank grass there are bones and curling horns that have taught the survivors to beware. It is Poison Spring, the Poison Spring in a land where all water is bad; and in many a long day Wunpost was the only human being who had gazed into its crystal depths. For the water was clear, too clear to be good, without even a green scum along its edge; and the rank, deceiving grass which grew up below could not tempt him to more than taste it. But, being trailed at the time by some men from Nevada who had seen the Sockdolager ore, he had conceived a possible use for the spring; and, coming back later, he had buried two cans of good water where he could find them when occasion demanded. This was the trap, in fact, toward which for four days he had been leading his vindictive pursuers; it was poisoned bait, laid out by Nature herself, to strike down such coyotes as Lynch.
Wunpost arrived at Poison Spring well along in the evening, the desert night being almost turned to day by the splendor of a waning moon. He rode in across the flat and down the salt-encrusted bank, still sweltering in the smothering heat; and the pounding blood in his brain had brought on a kind of fury–a death-anger at Pisen-face Lynch. He dug into the sand and drew out the cans of water, holding his mules away from the spring; and then, from a bucket, he gave each a small drink after taking a large one himself. There were two five-gallon cans, and after he had finished he lashed the full one on the pack; the other one, which sloshed faintly if one shook it up and down, he tossed mockingly down by the spring. And then he rode on, wiping the sweat from his brow and gazing back grimly into the night.
