Kitabı oku: «The Red River Half-Breed: A Tale of the Wild North-West», sayfa 9
It was Dearborn.
At least here was a follower who punctually kept his word.
CHAPTER XVIII
ROSARIO BEGINS TO HOPE
The Captain went up to the hunter quickly, and briskly extending his hand, bade him welcome. But the other was so busy filling his short meerschaum pipe, that he did not apparently perceive the hand, and simply thanked him.
"When do we make a start, captain?" he inquired.
"Right away," replied Kidd in a feverish voice.
He issued orders forthwith, so that the greatest animation soon stirred the encampment, everybody being delighted to get out of the bad spot. In a couple of hours subsequently the train was on the move, with Dearborn scouting in the van.
A two-mule litter carried Doña Rosario, whilst the other women were "piled in, somehow, anyhow" in the huge wagons covered with a waterproof cloth.
Behind the captain, the men sauntered along, their guns quite ready on their shoulders, keeping one eye on the wagons and the other on the country, so to say.
From seven to midday nothing occurred of any moment. The roads, if they could be called such where none were traced save by wild beasts going to water, were in such a condition that wheeled traffic was bound to be slow. Now and again a gang of men took to axes or spades, as the case might be, and hewed or levelled a path.
In "the nooning," the cattle were breathed and rested. In five hours, not twenty miles had been covered.
The halting place chosen was in a rather broad open land in the thick of a cedar and piney wood, through which brawled a torrent having accessible banks only in one spot.
A little on one side, a tent was hastily run up for Doña Rosario. The other women were strictly, even cruelly severely guarded, and kept from speaking together, still less to the adventurer, as much as possible.
Since the Englishman's introduction into the camp, Miss Maclan had cheered up wonderfully. No nods or rebukes constrained her from displaying her relief, and soon she set to singing. In a brief space she became the licensed songstress of the band, for the rudest Americans have a fondness for music. She was so liked after this, that the men would have rebelled if she had been silenced by the Captain, or Corky Joe, though, to tell the truth, these smiled patronizingly on her efforts.
Ulla had conceived a genuine affection for Rosario, if only because she was so sad and pale. On her part, the Southerner was touched by her delicate attentions, and it was a great consolation for her to meet with a loving soul and tender heart, to say nothing of a vigorous intelligence. Once the ice was broken, they became inseparable.
Kidd marked this connection with pleasure; he favoured it rather than fettered it. He had been vexed by his captive's pining away, and hoped that the different temperament of the Scotch young lady would exert a powerful influence on the Spaniard's mind, and act healthily on her reflections.
The halt had hardly been cried before the scout looked close to his gun.
"In two hours we must be off again," he remarked; "this is no spot to make a prolonged stay in. One good thing is, that the weather is clearing up, and the ground will be good for travelling. We must do our best whilst things are on our side."
"Excellent advice!" coincided the leader; "But how about dinner with us?"
"No, no," returned the other, shaking his head; "your salt horse and boiled beans do not go down with me. I am not tired, and I am not hungry. So I prefer to sweep the country and try to find a bit of game to tickle my palate."
"A good idea again," said the captain, laughing. "You are the first scout I ever came across who had no appetite. Well, good luck!"
"Many thanks," replied the other, with one of those smiles which the Spanish call half sour grapes, half-sweet figs, to which he seemed addicted for Kidd's benefit.
He strode away rapidly, and was speedily lost to view.
"A queer character," observed the adventurer; "but they are all queer the farther up north one gets! However, we must take men as we find them. He seems true and faithful, and that's the main thing. Besides, where's his interest in betraying me? What a fool I am! Is there not always something to be gained by betraying a man like me? Tut, tut I am I going daft like Dave Steelder, or, rather," he went on with a cunning smile, "crazy in the real vein. It has come to this, that lately I am worrying myself into a fever."
At this point up came Corky Joe.
"Oh, here you are, eh? How's that wretch Paul getting on?"
"Paul's as lucky as an Injin doctor!" answered the lieutenant, laughing. "He hardly feels the knocking about. He heals up like a man who never soaked in whisky. When I left him he was packing away cold beef like an Injin warrior after a fast, and drinking like the Great American Desert when the rum cask is staved. He's going to get round it, don't you fret."
"I reckoned he would!"
"I'll be fair to him, besides – he don't want no nursing; he wants to buckle to his work right off."
"No, no, stop that. Compel him to rest a day or two, which will make him more useful and bother us less."
"Oh, I say, cap.! I've put extra sentinels out all round."
"You did quite right; though there's nothing scary, we had better be on our guard. Those Red River Half-breeds are no more to be trusted than the purebred red men; and I wish they were both drowned in the nearest salt pool! But hurry up to dinner; I feel as sharp as a meat saw freshly filed!"
"That's me!" added "Corky Joe," promptly as an echo.
Long before the men were through their meal, voraciously though they ate, the two young ladies, who met in the wilderness from such opposite directions, had finished theirs – of which they had made but a mockery.
"Something unusual is about us, señorita," said Miss Maclan to Rosario, with an arch look. "There is a gay expression on your features, to which they are not habituated. Surely, now, something new is at hand; I hope you are going to tell me?"
"How curious we are!" returned the Southerner, smiling.
"Do not judge me wrongfully, indolent creature! It is not inquisitiveness that moves me, but friendship."
"I am well aware of that, darling; so I shall not make you languish. I am going to tell you everything."
"That is nice; and I do love you in the same frank way. But wait a bit, until I make sure that we have no eavesdroppers. It is a sensible thing to be prudent hereabouts, with persons handy who make no scruples about listening!"
She set up a song to express unconcern, and went out of the tent for a short absence. When she reappeared, she laid her finger on her lips to impress caution, and sat down close beside her, so that they could converse in whispers.
"Do you mean they are watching us?" queried Doña Rosario.
"We are always watched," was the answer; "but this time more sharply than ever!"
"I wonder why?"
"I cannot say."
"But cannot you guess, as the Yankees do?"
"No; nor even suppose. What do you think of this? – There are sentries posted all around the camp!"
"That's not strange, silly! That is done every time they stop."
"I daresay, señorita; but – "
"Why, that's to keep the Indians off – not to keep us in!"
"But why are they put everywhere except just behind this tent?"
"What do you say?"
"You can see for yourself, Rosario!"
"What do you conclude from this arrangement?"
"To my mind, for some hidden reason, they want to fill us with an idea on which we should be gulled into acting. I am certain of this – that Lieutenant Joe placed the men on the watch himself. It is some trick, in spite, of that wretch, who hates you worse than the captain!"
"You are out of your wits, dear!" responded the Mexican, laughing. "Your reasoning is all askew!"
"Much obliged! Does not the Lieutenant plague you all he can?"
The dark girl approached her lips to the other's quick car, and gently breathed —
"Joe is our friend – our only friend!"
"Eh?" exclaimed Miss Maclan, unable to believe she had heard aright, as she fastened a frightened look on the speaker; "The Lieutenant our friend – you are jesting!"
"I repeat that he is our most devoted friend; I more than know it – I hold the proof of it."
"Oh, dear me!" ejaculated Ulla, in almost comic surprise, it was so extreme.
"Yes," went on Rosario, "when I was left by myself, he came to me, profiting by Captain Kidd's absence. He made his true character known to me, and pledged entire devotion. He said that he was in the caravan to guard and save me. After recommending me to be as wise as possible, he left me the most undeniable proof of his good faith, proof that would turn terribly against him if he were to betray me instead of serving me. What do you think of that?"
"Oh, that explains your having been so strange and excited when I came back to you," cried Miss Maclan, clapping her hands incautiously. "I understand now. But why did you not let me know before? This was unkind, as I was so uneasy about you."
"Don't bear me any ill will, for I was distraught with sudden gladness."
"What an amazing thing. That Joe fellow is very ugly," said Miss Maclan, merrily; "but I shall try to love him now!"
"Now it is you who are excited, girl. Calm yourself, lest we be overheard."
"No, no, there is nothing to fear, at least, in the immediate present. Oh, dear Rosario, what a blessing this is for you, and perhaps for me, for I am to keep by you, am I not? What a mercy it will be to flit through the grip of that nasty Captain Kidd, a gallows bird, who never even blinks behind his spectacles."
"Yes, yes, no parting between us, dear Ulla. We will remain friends always. Columbia and Caledonia forever. Hip, hip, hur – "
But she did not conclude her burlesque cheering. The two girls were in one another's arms, weeping tears of hope and joyfulness, when a sharp, yet low hiss pierced the silence, and made Doña Rosario prick up her ears. She came from a climate where abounded reptiles making such a sound.
Presently, a spent revolver cartridge shell was neatly cast so as to roll in under the tent edge, almost to the girls' feet. Miss Maclan picked up the cylinder, being the nearer and the more courageous. A paper was curled up in it, and slightly protruded. She pulled it out with trembling fingers. It opened, and she saw it was addressed to her. She rapidly ran her eyes over it, and then slowly and thankfully read it aloud.
These were the contents: —
"Dear Miss Maclan, – All obstacles are overcome, so that I have been more than happy enough to discover your whereabouts, for I am even close to you. I am on the watch, so hope! I may even succeed in getting speech with you. Much to say. Ranald Dearborn."
There was a postscript, wishing her hope and courage, and bidding her burn the note.
"That must come from a friend, no doubt?" observed Rosario, slyly.
"Oh, indeed," replied the Scotch girl, suppressing a sigh, "a very dear, leal friend, in whose promises I can place complete trust."
"Why, things go better and better. I should not wonder if we were freed before a great while."
"Heaven grant it."
"Don't you forget what was told you."
"What?"
"The burning the paper, goose. It is important, I rather agree."
"Must it be destroyed?"
"Decidedly, my dear; were the captain to find a line of it, you and your friend would be lost. Dearborn is the name of the new guide, who read Mr. Kidd a lesson in behaviour to a lady. He known as our friend, too, and a correspondent, we would be separated."
"Very well, then, I shall not hesitate. It's a painful sacrifice, for, somehow, that message seems written with a consoling angel's feather."
She began to tear the paper with an unsteady hand. But at that same instant a heavy foot was heard at the door. Ulla dropped the writing. But before it was half way to the ground, the Southerner had caught it, and snatching some tobacco, shredded, she began to make a cigarette as she lolled back with a good assumption of ease.
"Can a body come in without disturbing you too much?" inquired Captain Kidd in his well-known and little-liked voice at the door.
"There is no need, captain, for you to feign a politeness you little care for," was Rosario's reply. "Am I not your very slave, and as such obliged to obey you? As you are the master, come in if you like."
In came the chief of the gold grabbers with a little bow.
"Really, young lady," he said, "my presence must be very odious to you if you receive me always so poorly. Still, it does seem to me that I am trying continually to please you in every way, I am not aware of anybody round here failing to treat you properly."
"Moral constraint is a hundred times more irksome than physical, sir. I am not free; that's the whole question; I cannot be contented as long as I an prohibited from leaving your camp forever, and never setting eyes on you or your scoundrelly followers."
"Poor little lady!" he answered, with ironical kindliness, "Whither would she go if I were to present her with the freedom she longs for? My child, you might not go five miles, nay, not three, before down you would go – shot by an Indian, one of these Half-breeds, or into some alkali sink pit, or wild beasts' lair. I should never have done reproaching myself if I let you incur any such fate."
"Oh, it is not today that I have become acquainted with your humanity, sir, and your love for your neighbour. But let us no longer discuss fruitless subjects, which I daresay interest you most feebly. I beg you rather to inform me of the object of your visit. Your time is valuable, and you would not waste it chatting with a young lady."
This speech was made with so strong an accent of scornful fun, that her hearer only overcame his anger by a powerful effort.
"I am still waiting," resumed his tormentor after a minute. "Have you nothing, after all, to say?"
"You must forgive me, señorita," said he, "but your reception was so surprisingly charming, that it made me forget what I came for."
"Perhaps I may smoke whilst it comes again, by your leave, of course?" said the impudent minx, with a sly glance at Miss Maclan, whom Kidd affected to regard as a mere companion, a kind of better class servant. "I am in such a way, lately, of palliating anything disagreeable with a smoke, that I really cannot get along without my cigar while you are by!"
She accepted a match from Ulla and lighted up.
"Now then, master, you can fire away too if you are ready!"
All this was said and done with the free and easy manner of an American girl. The malicious thing thoroughly enjoyed puffing into the very face of their persecutor the smoke of the letter which conveyed a vexation to him. So much satisfaction was in this unsuspected revenge before the only person able to measure it, that Rosario felt even a little less spiteful towards the man who for once was her victim.
As he had not the ghost of a suspicion, the mute conference of the girls had no meaning in his eyes, but he did notice with relief that the American girl looked less angry.
"Señorita," he said, "a serious motive impels me here. I can put it shortly. This morning we started off with the intention of turning our backs on the cheerless wilds and striking for quarters rather more hospitable."
"So far, sir, I do not hear anything much to interest me."
"I am coming to it. I hired a new guide, whom I presented to you – that Mr. Dearborn."
"Well!" she inquired loudly, to keep attention on her and away from Miss Maclan, who could not help colouring at the name. "What's this cold Englishman to me?"
"Of no account to you, very likely, miss! But he's everything to me. The worthy young fellow saved my life, as I told you. Over and above my gratitude, there's any amount of confidence I have in him."
"Go on; go on, sir. If you will bore me with your private business, let me hear all and be done with it. I suppose there's nothing to spur you on; and my time belongs to you if to anyone."
"There you are, joking me again, señorita. Still, I am not talking at random, and I would not go into these particulars if they could be omitted."
"Have your own way, I tell you, captain. You were saying that you entertained great confidence in your new guide, who had saved your precious life. You see I remember what you said."
"So you do. Well, señorita, this guide promises to save us three days' march and to take us in one day into a region almost temperate."
"A very good thing for you! But you will again allow my remark that it does not concern me."
"But you have a vast interest in it! You shall see for yourself too. It was the guide himself who suggested my coming to you."
"This is getting extremely interesting at last!"
"Yes, while we were on the move this morning."
"More and more interesting," she said seriously, whilst Miss Maclan leaned forward eagerly.
"The guide said to me, then," went on the captain, smiling, "'I can, if you like, avoid the long way round and drop you in four-and-twenty hours into mild weather; but I must not hide from you that it is by a breakneck road, so dangerous that the bravest men never go through without an attack of ague. There's only two ways of doing it, on foot or on horseback. Your band is lumbered up with women and children. Reflect how you are going to get them along.' My answer to this was, 'There's no need to fret about the women and girls, as they are frontier bred and know how to rough it. There is only one person whose safety is important to me, and I do not care to endanger her in a risky path. That person is the Spanish doña.' 'If she is enough of a rider to stick to a horse, I warrant we'll get her through,' said he to that. 'Can't you ask her anyway? Then we shall know whether we are in a fix or not.' So I said I would see about it; and here I am, señorita, come to disturb you."
"If one is to go by your story, it was more you than the guide that led to your coming."
"To tell the truth, my head is confused, and I do not carry a clear memory of the exact phrases employed. But this does not matter much one way or the other. The main point is to know, señorita, if you can ride well enough to stay in the saddle in a bad bridle path."
"Either I am very dull, or you have left out part of your argument, señor, though of importance."
"Ah! I know what you are alluding to. You mean, what is to become of the baggage?"
"Yes, señor captain; you may even say 'plunder.' It's a popular word, which well covers your belongings."
Kidd laughed at the jest. Things were coming round nicely, after all.
"The wagons and loads are going to follow on, under safe guard, by the next best road. They will come up three or four days after me in our nook."
"Oh, now I understand the whole matter clearly, and nothing can be simpler."
"Well, what is your answer, young lady?"
"Captain," was the sad reply, "the life you believe so valuable is a very mean thing to me. I attach little weight to it, so any road is the same as another. I will go along with you anyway."
"I beg your pardon, señorita, but either you don't or you won't understand. You are not answering me at all."
"No, captain? I thought I was! You asked me if I would go with you in a new path, and I say yes. That's straight enough."
"Yes. You mean you would trust to your horse?"
She remained silent, finishing the cigarette.
"I pause for a positive reply."
"Well, I will give you the frank reply that you require," she said, with an effort. "I am not only so poor a horsewoman that I should be afraid to trust to a horse, but I am so ignorant as to be afraid to trust myself on one. I never was in the saddle in my life. That was not even among my 'extras' at the boarding school."
"That will do, señorita. I am going."
"What do you decide?"
"To push on in the original course. It's longer, but it's less hazardous."
He made his bow and departed.
CHAPTER XIX
THE NEST OF TRAITORS
"Dear me, Rosa," exclaimed Miss Maclan, the tent being cleared once more, "I thought all you Southern Americans rode horses like centaurs. At least, you know my meaning though the simile is bad."
Rosario gave her a hug.
"Eh, darling!" she whispered; and added with a fine smile. "At present I do not know how to ride."
"But I should have thought – "
"You are not good at the kind of thinking wanted out here, lassie! The guide spoken of by the captain is devoted to us, eh? Yes; well, then, if he got that idiot of a Captain Kidd to put these questions to me, it is because he wanted no for an answer. Do you comprehend now?"
"Better than ever. Oh, you are keen, Rosario! They will not cheat you easily!"
"Alas, dear, it is misfortune's grindstone that sharpens wits. When even girls are constantly surrounded by tricks and stratagems, the senses wear clear and bright. Cunning and dissimulation are the slave's sole weapons. We can only baffle our enemies with skill and finesse."
When the starting time came Captain Kidd's bugle sounded it, and gave orders for the movement. The guide had not come back from his hunt, but as he had left precise directions, the leader showed no tokens of being crossed by that absence, and took the lead himself.
It was a most painful journey.
Out of the snowlined woods issued a black damp frost, which cut to the bone even the thickest wrapped. A few large snowflakes were spun out of treetops and wandered about. The semblance of a road was dreadfully cut up and flanked by deep chasms, which required the utmost heedfulness on the part of the teamster lest the vehicles and pack animals were thrown down and over. They seemed to have nothing but ups and downs, and the worst of the downs was, it being through torrents or pools where the water was excessively chilly.
The caravan proceeded noiselessly on the whole, excepting the groaning and screaming of the wheels and the sonorous oaths of the drivers: men who do not sleep happily unless they have invented a fresh blasphemy every day.
Their disagreeable march, during which but scanty progress was made after all, was kept on till half past four, when darkness came on. The train had reached a natural clearing resembling that of their last halt.
Such a huge fire as served our ancestors to roast oxen whole, and as their present-day descendants now and then use for the same purpose at extraordinary meetings, was blazing in the open space. Right in front stood the guide, leaning on his rifle as easily as if he little cared for the pyre attracting Indians as a lantern does gnats on a summer night.
The party quickened their gait as much as possible, enheartened by the ruddy flame of which the mere reflection seemed to thaw their stiffened limbs.
Soon were the wagons unlimbered and ranged in defensive order, the mules unladen, and the encampment as swiftly installed as could be. As the night was to be spent here, the measures of assurance were unusually well taken. The wagons were chained in two crescents connected by parallel bars, the interstices choked up with stake and thorn bushes, and the tents set up within the enclosure. The sentries were told to keep their eyes skinned. Plenty of watch fires were kindled and provided with fuel.
Only when these precautions were concluded did the gold grabbers get leave to prepare supper. Think what their appetite was with this hard work on top of that excited by the long and arduous journey. They "wolf'd" their meal.
After the captain had strictly inspected the camp, investigated the surrounding scenery, and became convinced all was in order, he strolled over to Ranald. He was at his own fire, smoking a pipe, the guide not being an officer who "chums" with anyone; again a point of resemblance with a sea pilot.
"My friend the hunter," said the captain, in a most amicable tone, "I desire you to pass the night with us, and take supper with our chiefs."
"Many thanks, captain; I do not see any reason why I should go out on the prowl tonight, and nothing bars me from putting my knife into your Washington pie. But a little condition on that, captain."
"Name it, dear boy. If it depends on me, it is granted beforehand," said Kidd, who was becoming accustomed to Dearborn's "little whims."
"I only ask one thing, that there shall be none but men at the board."
"A 'stag party?' But what do you say that for?"
"That's not easy to explain. But the fact is, I haven't come out into the wilderness to hear women squeak, and see them mince about and play all those niminy-piminy lures and graces that city people think are agreeable. I have no wish to say a word contrary to the respect I hold for the young Southern lady in your charge; but, by Jove! I'll confess that I prefer the wolf scaring faggot here to sitting at table over against the fair sex."
"Oh, good," replied the captain, who knew that for every seven young men whom a homicide, debt, loss at gambling, love of wild life, etc., drove into the desert, there were six whose first love affair turned out disastrously; he thought he perceived at last the true cause of the youth's reserved mood and peculiarities. "You'll not be bothered with her, particularly as we are going to talk about her, and could not well do that if she were by, or her Scotch attendant either."
"Attendant?"
"Yes, I've picked out the woman we rescued to be her companion. It cheers her up. She was moping a little."
"Things being so, captain, I am your man."
In five minutes, the captain, Joe, and the Englishman were supping together with hearty appetite. When this was a trifle allayed by the first course, Kidd brought the conversation round upon Doña Rosario, by reason of her having stopped the choice of the short cut.
"Women are always a bother," remarked the young misanthrope with a sneer. "With no intention to offend you, I would not mind betting a trifle that the young lady can ride as well as you or I."
"She says the other thing," returned the host, thoughtful of a sudden.
"Out of the spirit of contradiction, that's all."
"It's very certain," interposed Joe, "if she was educated at New Orleans, that she must be a rare exception to the troops of schoolgirls who go out riding on the Shell Road."
"It's all pure contradiction," resumed Dearborn; "who can say a thing is black to a woman without her saying it is white?"
"Or grey, at least," added the lieutenant, sagely.
"That's why," continued the youngest man, "I have sworn off woman's society. Though the best woman in creation came out here, I should send her back to the nearest railway station! I'll never cumber myself up with the baggage! They're a bad bargain, though they come with a million in the Funds!"
"Whew!" exclaimed Joe, laughing, "Our guide does not strike me as a very passionate adorer of the sex."
"No, no, don't put me down as either hating or liking them," went on the hunter; "write me as indifferent. My father was a man of great good sense; an oracle in his county. He used to say that the modern woman is like the grand piano: it looks useful, but it takes up too much room, and is always in the way. You cannot use the wires for a gridiron, the top is badly shaped for a billiard table, and the legs are so hard, you cannot chop them up in a sudden emergency for heating shaving water. And when she is musical, the neighbours move out and leave the last quarter's rent owing. I agree with my dear old dad."
The others laughed.
"The sad part of it all is, that we must pass three or four days we might have saved in this dreary solitude," remarked the captain.
"Still, you might take the short cut," observed Joe.
"I don't see how."
"Well, my principle is, that the few must give in to the many. Sound democratic maxim. Doña Rosario says she cannot ride. Never mind whether she can or not, truly; but that does not bind us down from taking the cutoff. Not a bit of it."
"I wish you would explain," said Kidd, testily. "What would you do in my place, man full of dodges?"
"One thing – the easiest thing in the world," responded the Carcajieu, playing with his knife on a bone. "I would pick out an old sure-foot mule – we've several rare good ones – I'd put a sidesaddle on, well filled with a bag of leaves, rugs, blankets, and such fixings, so the lady should not get cold, and fasten her in."
"Not a bad notion. What do you think, guide?"
Dearborn laughed in the face of Joe.
"And when the mule slips, your hardbound lady rider would be dashed to sausage meat in the gulf below. They run eight hundred feet deep round here."
"Bah! That's nothing. Apparently, you do not know what a mule is – a cat for clinging to the roughnesses, a fly for walking up a smooth perpendicular."
"Oh, if you think the mule can scramble along – "
"A mule can go where we daren't."
"Then I will share in your lieutenant's suggestions," said Dearborn, exchanging a secret glance of intelligence with Joe.
"That's fine, then! Tomorrow we will strike into the straight line you proposed, guide. Are your horns full? Then, here's to the Yellowstone Valley!"
