CHAPTER XIV
CONCERNING THE BOONE-BELLAMY-YARNELL FEUD
The story that Ferne Yarnell told them in the parlor of the hotel had itsbeginnings far back in the days before the great war. They had beenneighbors, these three families, had settled side by side in this new landof Arkansas, had hunted and feasted together in amity. In an hour hadarisen the rift between them that was to widen to a chasm into which muchblood had since been spilt. It began with a quarrel between hotheadedyoung men. Forty years later it was still running its blind wastefulcourse.
Even before the war the Boones had begun to go down hill rapidly. CadBoone, dissipated and unprincipled, had found even the lax discipline ofthe Confederate army too rigid and had joined the guerrillas, that band ofhangers-on which respected neither flag and developed a cruelty that wasappalling. Falling into the hands of Captain Ransom Yarnell, he had beentried by drumhead courtmartial and executed within twenty four hours ofhis capture.
The boast of the Boones was that they never forgot an injury. They mightwait many years for the chance, but in the end they paid their debts.Twenty years after the war Sugden Boone shot down Colonel Yarnell as hewas hitching his horse in front of the courthouse at Nemo. Next Christmaseve a brother of the murdered man--Captain Tom, as his old troopers stillcalled him--met old Sugden in the postoffice and a revolver duel followed.From it Captain Tom emerged with a bullet in his arm. Sugden was carriedout of the store feet first to a house of mourning.
The Boones took their time. Another decade passed. Old Richard Bellamy,father of the young man, was shot through the uncurtained window of hisliving rooms while reading the paper one night. Though related to theYarnells, he had never taken any part in the feud beyond that ofexpressing his opinion freely. The general opinion was that he had beenkilled by Dunc Boone, but there was no conclusive evidence to back it.Three weeks later another one of the same faction met his fate. CaptainTom was ambushed while riding from his plantation to town and left dead onthe road. Dunc Boone had been seen lurking near the spot, and immediatelyafter the killing he was met by two hunters as he was slipping through theunderbrush for the swamps. There was no direct evidence against the youngman, but Captain Tom had been the most popular man in the county. Recklessthough he was, Duncan Boone had been forced to leave the country by theintensity of the popular feeling against him.
Again the feud had slumbered. It was understood that the Yarnells and theBellamys were ready to drop it. Only one of the opposite faction remainedon the ground, a twin brother of Duncan. Shep Boone was a drunkenne'er-do-well, but since he now stood alone nothing more than emptythreats was expected of him. He spent his time idly with a set of gamblingloafers, but he lacked the quality of active malice so pronounced inDunc.
A small part of the old plantation, heavily mortgaged, still belonged toShep and was rented by him to a tenant, Jess Munro. He announced one daythat he was going to collect the rent due him. Having been drinkingheavily, he was in an abusive frame of mind. As it chanced he met youngHal Yarnell, just going into the office of his kinsman Dick Bellamy, withwhom he was about to arrange the details of a hunting trip they werestarting upon. Shep emptied his spleen on the boy, harking back to the oldfeud and threatening vengeance at their next meeting. The boy was whitewith rage, but he shut his teeth and passed upstairs without saying aword.
The body of Shep Boone was found next day by Munro among the blackberrybushes at the fence corner of his own place. No less than four witnesseshad seen young Yarnell pass that way with a rifle in his hand about thesame time that Shep was riding out from town. They had heard a shot, buthad thought little of it. Munro had been hoeing cotton in the field andhad seen the lad as he passed. Later he had heard excited voices, andpresently a shot. Other circumstantial evidence wound a net around theboy. He was arrested. Before the coroner held an inquest a new developmentstartled the community. Dick Bellamy fled on a night train, leaving a noteto the coroner exonerating Hal. In it he practically admitted the crime,pleading self defence.
This was the story that Ferne Yarnell told in the parlor of the PalaceHotel to Jack Flatray and the Lees.
Melissy spoke first. "Did Mr. Bellamy kill the man to keep your brotherfrom being killed?"
"I don't know. It must have been that. It's all so horrible."
The deputy's eyes gleamed. "Think of it another way, Miss Yarnell. Bellamywas up against it. Your brother is only a boy. He took his place. A friendcouldn't have done more for another."
The color beat into the face of the Arkansas girl as she looked at him."No. He sacrificed his career for him. He did a thing he must have hatedto do."
"He's sure some man," Flatray pronounced.
A young man, slight, quick of step, and erect as a willow sapling, walkedinto the room. He looked from one to another with clear level eyes. MissFerne introduced him as her brother.
A thought crossed the mind of the deputy. Perhaps this boy had killed hisenemy after all and Bellamy had shouldered the blame for him. If the mineowner were in love with Ferne Yarnell this was a hypothesis more thanpossible. In either case he acquitted the slayer of blame. In his pocketwas a letter from the sheriff at Nemo, Arkansas, stating that his countywas well rid of Shep Boone and that the universal opinion was that neitherBellamy nor young Yarnell had been to blame for the outcome of thedifficulty. Unless there came to him an active demand for the return ofBellamy he intended to let sleeping dogs lie.
No such demand came. Within a month the mystery was cleared. The renterMunro delivered himself to the sheriff at Nemo, admitting that he hadkilled Shep Boone in self defence. The dead man had been drinking and wasexceedingly quarrelsome. He had abused his tenant and at last drawn onhim. Whereupon Munro had shot him down. At first afraid of what mighthappen to him, he had stood aside and let the blame be shouldered uponyoung Yarnell. But later his conscience had forced him to a confession. Itis enough here to say that he was later tried and acquitted, thus closingthe chapter of the wastrel's tragic death.
The day after the news of Munro's confession reached Arizona RichardBellamy called upon Flatray to invite him to his wedding. As soon as hisname was clear he had asked Ferne Yarnell to marry him.
PART II
DEAD MAN'S CACHE