CHAPTER II
THE FLIGHT
A great fear settled down upon the girl as she realized that she was aloneand, for a few hours at least, free. It was a marvellous escape. Even nowshe could hear the echo of the man's last words, and see his hateful smileas he waved his good-by and promised to come back for her to-morrow.
She felt sure he would not wait until the night. It might be he wouldreturn even yet. She cast another reassuring look down the darkening road,and strained her ear; but she could no longer hear hoof-beats.Nevertheless, it behooved her to hasten. He had blanched at her suggestionof walking spirits; but, after all, his courage might arise. She shudderedto think of his returning later, in the night. She must fly somewhere atonce.
Instantly her dormant senses seemed to be on the alert. Fully fledgedplans flashed through her brain. She went into the cabin, and barred thedoor. She made every movement swiftly, as if she had not an instant tospare. Who could tell? He might return even before dark. He had been hardto baffle, and she did not feel at all secure. It was her one chance ofsafety to get away speedily, whither it mattered little, only so she wasaway and hidden.
Her first act inside the cottage was to get the belt from the cupboard andbuckle it around her waist. She examined and loaded the pistols. Herthroat seemed seized with sudden constriction when she discovered thatthe barrels had been empty and the weapons would have done her no goodeven if she could have reached them.
She put into her belt the sharp little knife her brother used to carry,and then began to gather together everything eatable that she could carrywith her. There was not much that could be easily carried--some driedbeef, a piece of cheese, some corn-meal, a piece of pork, a handful ofcheap coffee-berries, and some pieces of hard corn bread. She hesitatedover a pan half full of baked beans, and finally added them to the store.They were bulky, but she ought to take them if she could. There wasnothing else in the house that seemed advisable to take in the way ofeatables. Their stores had been running low, and the trouble of the lastday or two had put housekeeping entirely out of her mind. She had notcared to eat, and now it occurred to her that food had not passed her lipsthat day. With strong self-control she forced herself to eat a few of thedry pieces of corn bread, and to drink some cold coffee that stood in thelittle coffee-pot. This she did while she worked, wasting not one minute.
There were some old flour-sacks in the house. She put the eatables intotwo of them, with the pan of beans on the top, adding a tin cup, and tiedthem securely together. Then she went into her little shed room, and puton the few extra garments in her wardrobe. They were not many, and thatwas the easiest way to carry them. Her mother's wedding-ring, sacredlykept in a box since the mother's death, she slipped upon her finger. Itseemed the closing act of her life in the cabin, and she paused and benther head as if to ask the mother's permission that she might wear thering. It seemed a kind of protection to her in her lonely situation.
There were a few papers and an old letter or two yellow with years, whichthe mother had always guarded sacredly. One was the certificate of hermother's marriage. The girl did not know what the others were. She hadnever looked into them closely, but she knew that her mother had countedthem precious. These she pinned into the bosom of her calico gown. Thenshe was ready.
She gave one swift glance of farewell about the cabin where she had spentnearly all of her life that she could remember, gathered up the twoflour-sacks and an old coat of her father's that hung on the wall,remembering at the last minute to put into its pocket the few matches andthe single candle left in the house, and went out from the cabin, closingthe door behind her.
She paused, looking down the road, and listened again; but no sound cameto her save a distant howl of a wolf. The moon rode high and clear by thistime; and it seemed not so lonely here, with everything bathed in softsilver, as it had in the darkening cabin with its flickering candle.
The girl stole out from the cabin and stealthily across the patch ofmoonlight into the shadow of the shackly barn where stamped the poor,ill-fed, faithful horse that her brother had ridden to his death upon. Allher movements were stealthy as a cat's.
She laid the old coat over the horse's back, swung her brother's saddleinto place,--she had none of her own, and could ride his, or without any;it made no difference, for she was perfectly at home on horseback,--andstrapped the girths with trembling fingers that were icy cold withexcitement. Across the saddle-bows she hung the two flour-sacks containingher provisions. Then with added caution she tied some old burlap abouteach of the horse's feet. She must make no sound and leave no track asshe stole forth into the great world.
The horse looked curiously down and whinnied at her, as she tied his feetup clumsily. He did not seem to like his new habiliments, but he sufferedanything at her hand.
"Hush!" she murmured softly, laying her cold hands across his nostrils;and he put his muzzle into her palm, and seemed to understand.
She led him out into the clear moonlight then, and paused a second,looking once more down the road that led away in front of the cabin; butno one was coming yet, though her heart beat high as she listened,fancying every falling bough or rolling stone was a horse's hoof-beat.
There were three trails leading away from the cabin, for they could hardlybe dignified by the name of road. One led down the mountain toward thewest, and was the way they took to the nearest clearing five or six milesbeyond and to the supply store some three miles further. One led off tothe east, and was less travelled, being the way to the great world; andthe third led down behind the cabin, and was desolate and barren under themoon. It led down, back, and away to desolation, where five graves laystark and ugly at the end. It was the way they had taken that afternoon.
She paused just an instant as if hesitating which way to take. Not the wayto the west--ah, any but that! To the east? Yes, surely, that must be thetrail she would eventually strike; but she had a duty yet to perform. Thatprayer was as yet unsaid, and before she was free to seek safety--ifsafety there were for her in the wide world--she must take her way downthe lonely path. She walked, leading the horse, which followed her withmuffled tread and arched neck as if he felt he were doing homage to thedead. Slowly, silently, she moved along into the river of moonlight anddreariness; for the moonlight here seemed cold, like the graves it shoneupon, and the girl, as she walked with bowed head, almost fancied she sawstrange misty forms flit past her in the night.
As they came in sight of the graves, something dark and wild with plumytail slunk away into the shadows, and seemed a part of the place. The girlstopped a moment to gain courage in full sight of the graves, and thehorse snorted, and stopped too, with his ears a-quiver, and a half-frightin his eyes.
She patted his neck and soothed him incoherently, as she buried her facein his mane for a moment, and let the first tears that had dimmed her eyessince the blow had fallen come smarting their way out. Then, leaving thehorse to stand curiously watching her, she went down and stood at the headof the new-heaped mound. She tried to kneel, but a shudder passed throughher. It was as if she were descending into the place of the dead herself;so she stood up and raised her eyes to the wide white night and the moonriding so high and far away.
"Our Father," she said in a voice that sounded miles away to herself. Wasthere any Father, and could He hear her? And did He care? "Which art inheaven--" but heaven was so far away and looked so cruelly serene to herin her desolateness and danger! "hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come--"whatever that might mean. "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."It was a long prayer to pray, alone with the pale moon-rain and thegraves, and a distant wolf, but it was her mother's wish. Her will beingdone here over the dead--was that anything like the will of the Fatherbeing done in heaven? Her untrained thoughts hovered on the verge ofgreat questions, and then slipped back into her pathetic self and itsfear, while her tongue hurried on through the words of the prayer.
Once the horse stirred and breathed a soft protest. He could notunderstand why they were s
topping so long in this desolate place, fornothing apparently. He had looked and looked at the shapeless mound beforewhich the girl was standing; but he saw no sign of his lost master, andhis instincts warned him that there were wild animals about. Anyhow, thiswas no place for a horse and a maid to stop in the night.
A few loose stones rattled from the horse's motion. The girl started, andlooked hastily about, listening for a possible pursuer; but everywhere inthe white sea of moonlight there was empty, desolate space. On to the"Amen" she finished then, and with one last look at the lonely graves sheturned to the horse. Now they might go, for the duty was done, and therewas no time to be lost.
Somewhere over toward the east across that untravelled wilderness of whitelight was the trail that started to the great world from the little cabinshe had left. She dared not go back to the cabin to take it, lest she findherself already followed. She did not know the way across this lonelyplain, and neither did the horse. In fact, there was no way, for it wasall one arid plain so situated that human traveller seldom came near it,so large and so barren that one might wander for hours and gain no goal,so dry that nothing would grow.
With another glance back on the way she had come, the girl mounted thehorse and urged him down into the valley. He stepped cautiously into thesandy plain, as if he were going into a river and must try its depth. Hedid not like the going here, but he plodded on with his burdens. The girlwas light; he did not mind her weight; but he felt this place uncanny, andnow and then would start on a little spurt of haste, to get into a betterway. He liked the high mountain trails, where he could step firmly andhear the twigs crackle under his feet, not this muffled, velvet way whereone made so little progress and had to work so hard.
The girl's heart sank as they went on, for the sand seemed deep anddrifted in places. She felt she was losing time. The way ahead lookedendless, as if they were but treading sand behind them which only returnedin front to be trodden over again. It was to her like the valley of thedead, and she longed to get out of it. A great fear lest the moon shouldgo down and leave her in this low valley alone in the dark took hold uponher. She felt she must get away, up higher. She turned the horse a littlemore to the right, and he paused, and seemed to survey the new directionand to like it. He stepped up more briskly, with a courage that could comeonly from an intelligent hope for better things. And at last they wererewarded by finding the sand shallower, and now and then a bit of rockcropping out for a firmer footing.
The young rider dismounted, and untied the burlap from the horse's feet.He seemed to understand, and to thank her as he nosed about her neck. Hethought, perhaps, that their mission was over and they were going tostrike out for home now.
The ground rose steadily before them now, and at times grew quite steep;but the horse was fresh as yet, and clambered upward with good heart; andthe rider was used to rough places, and felt no discomfort from herposition. The fear of being followed had succeeded to the fear of beinglost, for the time being; and instead of straining her ears on the trackbehind she was straining her eyes to the wilderness before. The growth ofsage-brush was dense now, and trees were ahead.
After that the way seemed steep, and the rider's heart stood still withfear lest she could never get up and over to the trail which she knew mustbe somewhere in that direction, though she had never been far out on itscourse herself. That it led straight east into all the great cities shenever doubted, and she must find it before she was pursued. That man wouldbe angry, _angry_ if he came and found her gone! He was not beyondshooting her for giving him the slip in this way.
The more she thought over it, the more frightened she became, till everybit of rough way, and every barrier that kept her from going forwardquickly, seemed terrible to her. A bob-cat shot across the way just ahead,and the green gleam of its eyes as it turned one swift glance at thisstrange intruder in its chosen haunts made her catch her breath and puther hand on the pistols.
They were climbing a long time--it seemed hours to the girl--when at lastthey came to a space where a better view of the land was possible. It washigh, and sloped away on three sides. To her looking now in the clearnight the outline of a mountain ahead of her became distinct, and the layof the land was not what she had supposed. It brought her a furious senseof being lost. Over there ought to be the familiar way where the cabinstood, but there was no sign of anything she had ever seen before, thoughshe searched eagerly for landmarks. The course she had chosen, and whichhad seemed the only one, would take her straight up, up over themountain, a way well-nigh impossible, and terrible even if it werepossible.
It was plain she must change her course, but which way should she go? Shewas completely turned around. After all, what mattered it? One way mightbe as good as another, so it led not home to the cabin which could neverbe home again. Why not give the horse his head, and let him pick out asafe path? Was there danger that he might carry her back to the cabinagain, after all? Horses did that sometimes. But at least he could guidethrough this maze of perplexity till some surer place was reached. Shegave him a sign, and he moved on, nimbly picking a way for his feet.
They entered a forest growth where weird branches let the pale moonthrough in splashes and patches, and grim moving figures seemed to chasethem from every shadowy tree-trunk. It was a terrible experience to thegirl. Sometimes she shut her eyes and held to the saddle, that she mightnot see and be filled with this frenzy of things, living or dead,following her. Sometimes a real black shadow crept across the path, andslipped into the engulfing darkness of the undergrowth to gleam withyellow-lighted eyes upon the intruders.
But the forest did not last forever, and the moon was not yet gone whenthey emerged presently upon the rough mountain-side. The girl studied themoon then, and saw by the way it was setting that after all they weregoing in the right general direction. That gave a little comfort until shemade herself believe that in some way she might have made a mistake andgone the wrong way from the graves, and so be coming up to the cabin afterall.
It was a terrible night. Every step of the way some new horror waspresented to her imagination. Once she had to cross a wild little stream,rocky and uncertain in its bed, with slippery, precipitous banks; andtwice in climbing a steep incline she came sharp upon sheer precipicesdown into a rocky gorge, where the moonlight seemed repelled by dark,bristling evergreen trees growing half-way up the sides. She could hearthe rush and clamor of a tumbling mountain stream in the depths below.Once she fancied she heard a distant shot, and the horse pricked up hisears, and went forward excitedly.
But at last the dawn contended with the night, and in the east a faintpink flush crept up. Down in the valley a mist like a white feather rosegently into a white cloud, and obscured everything. She wished she mightcarry the wall of white with her to shield her. She had longed for thedawn; and now, as it came with sudden light and clear revealing of thethings about her, it was almost worse than night, so dreadful were thedangers when clearly seen, so dangerous the chasms, so angry the mountaintorrents.
With the dawn came the new terror of being followed. The man would have nofear to come to her in the morning, for murdered men were not supposed tohaunt their homes after the sun was up, and murderers were alwayscourageous in the day. He might the sooner come, and find her gone, andperhaps follow; for she felt that he was not one easily to give up anobject he coveted, and she had seen in his evil face that which made herfear unspeakably.
As the day grew clearer, she began to study the surroundings. All seemedutter desolation. There was no sign that any one had ever passed that waybefore; and yet, just as she had thought that, the horse stopped andsnorted, and there in the rocks before them lay a man's hat riddled withshot. Peering fearfully around, the girl saw a sight which made her turnicy cold and begin to tremble; for there, below them, as if he had fallenfrom his horse and rolled down the incline, lay a man on his face.
For the instant fear held her riveted, with the horse, one figure like astatue, girl and beast; the next, sudden panic took hold upo
n her. Whetherthe man were dead or not, she must make haste. It might be he would cometo himself and pursue her, though there was that in the rigid attitude ofthe figure down below that made her sure he had been dead some time. Buthow had he died? Scarcely by his own hand. Who had killed him? Were therefiends lurking in the fastnesses of the mountain growth above her?
With guarded motion she urged her horse forward, and for miles beyond thehorse scrambled breathlessly, the girl holding on with shut eyes, notdaring to look ahead for fear of seeing more terrible sights, not daringto look behind for fear of--what she did not know.
At last the way sloped downward, and they reached more level ground, withwide stretches of open plain, dotted here and there with sage-brush andgreasewood.
She had been hungry back there before she came upon the dead man; but nowthe hunger had gone from her, and in its place was only faintness. Still,she dared not stop long to eat. She must make as much time as possiblehere in this open space, and now she was where she could be seen moreeasily if any one were in pursuit.
But the horse had decided that it was time for breakfast. He had had oneor two drinks of water on the mountain, but there had been no time for himto eat. He was decidedly hungry, and the plain offered nothing in theshape of breakfast. He halted, lingered, and came to a neighing stop,looking around at his mistress. She roused from her lethargy of trouble,and realized that his wants--if not her own--must be attended to.
She must sacrifice some of her own store of eatables, for by and by theywould come to a good grazing-place perhaps, but now there was nothing.
The corn-meal seemed the best for the horse. She had more of it than ofanything else. She poured a scanty portion out on a paper, and the beastsmacked his lips appreciatively over it, carefully licking every grainfrom the paper, as the girl guarded it lest his breath should blow anyaway. He snuffed hungrily at the empty paper, and she gave him a littlemore meal, while she ate some of the cold beans, and scanned the horizonanxiously. There was nothing but sage-brush in sight ahead of her, andmore hills farther on where dim outlines of trees could be seen. If shecould but get up higher where she could see farther, and perhaps reach abench where there would be grass and some shelter.
It was only a brief rest she allowed; and then, hastily packing up herstores, and retaining some dry corn bread and a few beans in her pocket,she mounted and rode on.
The morning grew hot, and the way was long. As the ground rose again, itwas stony and overgrown with cactus. A great desolation took possession ofthe girl. She felt as if she were in an endless flight from an unseenpursuer, who would never give up until he had her.
It was high noon by the glaring sun when she suddenly saw another humanbeing. At first she was not quite sure whether he were human. It was onlya distant view of a moving speck; but it was coming toward her, thoughseparated by a wide valley that had stretched already for miles. He wasmoving along against the sky-line on a high bench on one side of thevalley, and she mounting as fast as her weary beast would go to the top ofanother, hoping to find a grassy stretch and a chance to rest.
But the sight of the moving speck startled her. She watched itbreathlessly as they neared each other. Could it be a wild beast? No, itmust be a horse and rider. A moment later there came a puff of smoke asfrom a rifle discharged, followed by the distant echo of the discharge. Itwas a man, and he was yet a great way off. Should she turn and flee beforeshe was discovered? But where? Should she go back? No, a thousand times,no! Her enemy was there. This could not be the one from whom she fled. Hewas coming from the opposite direction, but he might be just as bad. Herexperience taught her that men were to be shunned. Even fathers andbrothers were terribly uncertain, sorrow-bringing creatures.
She could not go back to the place where the dead man lay. She must not goback. And forward she was taking the only course that seemed at allpossible through the natural obstructions of the region. She shrank to hersaddle, and urged the patient horse on. Perhaps she could reach the benchand get away out of sight before the newcomer saw her.
But the way was longer to the top, and steeper than it had seemed atfirst, and the horse was tired. Sometimes he stopped of his own accord,and snorted appealingly to her with his head turned inquiringly as if toknow how long and how far this strange ride was to continue. Then the manin the distance seemed to ride faster. The valley between them was not sowide here. He was quite distinctly a man now, and his horse was goingrapidly. Once it seemed as if he waved his arms; but she turned her head,and urged her horse with sudden fright. They were almost to the top now.She dismounted and clambered alongside of the animal up the steep incline,her breath coming in quick gasps, with the horse's breath hot upon hercheek as they climbed together.
At last! They were at the top! Ten feet more and they would be on a level,where they might disappear from view. She turned to look across thevalley, and the man was directly opposite. He must have ridden hard to getthere so soon. Oh, horror! He was waving his hands and calling. She coulddistinctly hear a cry! It chilled her senses, and brought a frantic,unreasoning fear. Somehow she felt he was connected with the one from whomshe fled. Some emissary of his sent out to foil her in her attempt forsafety, perhaps.
She clutched the bridle wildly, and urged the horse up with one lasteffort; and just as they reached high ground she heard the wild cry ringclear and distinct, "Hello! Hello!" and then something else. It soundedlike "Help!" but she could not tell. Was he trying to deceive her?Pretending he would help her?
She flung herself into the saddle, giving the horse the signal to run;and, as the animal obeyed and broke into his prairie run, she cast onefearful glance behind her. The man was pursuing her at a gallop! He wascrossing the valley. There was a stream to cross, but he would cross it.He had determination in every line of his flying figure. His voice waspursuing her, too. It seemed as if the sound reached out and clutched herheart, and tried to draw her back as she fled. And now her pursuers werethree: her enemy, the dead man upon the mountain, and the voice.