CHAPTER XVI.--IN THE ROCKIES.
Billie slept later than her friends next morning. Even their movementsabout the room as they dressed did not disturb her, and when at last sheopened her eyes the sun was pouring his rays through the small window ofthe cabin and outside was the glory of a mid-summer day; for it was June21st, and was to be a memorable day in the annals of their trip.
"Dear me," she exclaimed, "why doesn't somebody repeat, 'Go to the ant,thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.' I seem to scent coffee inthe air. Chief cook and bottle washer, what have you got for breakfast?"
"Corn bread from Minnie's corn meal," replied Nancy, who answered tothis title, "and shirred eggs, the last in our storehouse, and choppedbeef----"
Billie jumped up.
"You lavish and wasteful young persons," she cried. "How do you know wewon't need some of these things before we get back to civilization?"
"There are still baked beans," said Nancy reproachfully. Nancy was aborn cook, and, like other born cooks, she was only amiable when she wasnot interfered with.
"Go out and look at the scenery," she continued, "and leave us in peace.We won't starve. There's a box of wheaten biscuit left."
"I'd just as soon eat a bale of hay," cried Billie contemptuously. "Andthere's the Comet. He has to be fed this morning. How do I know that ourprovisions will last? If the food fails and the gasoline likewise, '_etpuis bon jour_,' as the song says."
But Billie wasn't really apprehensive. The day was too fine and herspirits too high.
"The truth is, we are all like the angels in heaven rejoicing over onesinner repented," said Mary in a low voice, for Minnie could be seenapproaching with a pail of water from the spring.
Toilets are meagre affairs in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains, and in aquarter of an hour Billie was fully clothed, washed and combed. Mary hadclosed the door of the cabin while she dressed.
"Don't look out until you see it all at once," she said. "It's toowonderful to take it by piece-meal."
Billie, therefore, had not an inkling of what was in store for her untilshe stepped out of the cabin.
Nothing on all her journeys with her father could equal the grandpanorama which was revealed beyond the cabin door. They appeared to bein a world of peaks--"Mr. and Mrs. Peak, and all the young Peaks," shewrote to her father later. In the far distance were snow-capped peaksand nearer were lesser peaks. The cabin was built alarmingly near theedge of a great canon, at the foot of which, hundreds of feet below, laya little green valley amazingly peaceful in all this rugged scenery, inwhich cattle no bigger than pinheads at that distance, were quietlygrazing.
Billie trembled to think what they might have climbed the night beforewithout suspecting it. This was certainly a good place for a robbers'nest. The cabin was perched on a shelf in the side of the mountain, andbrave were the men, Billie thought, who dared to climb the path that ledto it.
It was a gay breakfast party that gathered around the small table thatmorning and Minnie's eyes glistened with appreciation at sight of thewhite cloth and the bunch of wild flowers in the center, which had beenElinor's contribution to the breakfast.
Even Daniel Moore reflected the good spirits of Miss Campbell and theMotor Maids, although his hat and coat and all his luggage had beencarried away on the train. He had talked a little of Evelyn with MissHelen before breakfast.
"Don't you think she is beautiful, Miss Campbell?" he asked.
"I certainly do; but she is very young and impetuous, and we must beextremely careful what we do, especially if you think she has beeninfluenced against you in some way. Her father seems dreadfully sternand cruel. It made me shiver even to look at him."
"He's really quite fanatic about his religion," answered Mr. Moore. "Andyou know what such people are--almost madmen; but he is crafty andshrewd and very cruel, and I would hate to involve you and the girls inany trouble. That is the reason I was hurrying on to Salt Lake City.From the itinerary you gave me, I judged that would be your nextaddress, and I wanted to stop you before you got into difficulties."
"The girls have set their hearts on seeing Evelyn again," said MissCampbell, carefully refraining from mentioning that her own heart hadsome leanings in that direction also.
But the call to breakfast interrupted the conversation.
Another hour and the front of the little cabin appeared like aninscrutable face on the side of the mountain, with closed eyes andsealed lips. No need to bar the door now from the sheriff and his men,for the birds had flown. But because she was never to see the littlehouse again, and because, in spite of everything, she had known somehappiness there, Minnie dropped the calico curtain at the window andfastened the wooden latch on the door. It was the last rites before sheburied her old life forever in the mountains and began a new one withJim in the East.
With an expression of grave determination on her face she took her seatbeside Nancy in the front and never once looked back until they hadrounded the curve of the mountain.
Nobody talked much on that morning ride. Billie was engaged in guidingthe Comet carefully along the dangerous road which cut through a cleftin the mountain, and in many places was just wide enough for the car topass. Sometimes they were on the edge of such dizzy heights that MissCampbell held her breath and clenched her teeth to keep from crying out.
"I dare not even whisper," she said to herself, "for fear of startlingthat child at the wheel."
She contented herself with clutching Daniel Moore's arm, but in herheart she doubted if even Jim's salvation was worth the risk of so manylives. As for the girls, they had hardly realized the dangers of theride, so absorbed were they in the marvelous scenery. The snow caps ofthe distant ranges gleamed pink in the sunshine, and deep purple shadowslay on the ravines below.
As the Comet mounted up and up the steep grade, Miss Campbell's headbecame lighter and lighter, and her fears seemed to slip away. The highaltitude had a strangely intoxicating effect on Nancy, too. She began tolaugh just from the sheer joy of living.
"I feel like an inhabitant of Mars," she said. "Just a brains and astomach, and no body. I haven't but two sensations--hunger andhappiness."
"Minnie, it's ten minutes of twelve o'clock," said Billie presently."Are we anywhere near the Gap?"
The car had now turned a curve on the mountain and was going down grade.
"It's just down there," answered Minnie, "but I don't see Jim," sheadded, looking about uneasily.
"Well, really----" began Miss Campbell, and paused.
The notion that Jim might not be there to guide them out of this wildcountry had never come to any of them.
"He's had a long ways to go to get here," said Minnie. "He's had totravel all night on horseback, but if nothin' happens to him, Jim'llkeep his word. He ain't never broke it in his life."
This was reassuring in one way, but discouraging in another--if nothinghappened! Why had it not occurred to them that many, many things couldhappen?
Miss Campbell looked reproachfully at Daniel Moore.
"Don't be uneasy," he said. "I daresay we can get a guide if Jim doesn'tshow up."
The road now took a downward turn so precipitate that they wondered howthe emigrant vans of the Mormons which had once traveled this way hadbeen prevented from rolling over the horses and pitching headlong downthe incline.
But the Comet made the down grade slowly and deliberately. Back of themthey could see the road winding around the side of the mountain.Suddenly a group of horsemen came into sight around the curve. They weremere specks of black against the white roadway at this distance, butMinnie recognized them.
"Jim!" she called, her voice rising to a high treble, "Jim, man, it'sthe sheriff!"
And then, looking like some wild creature which had been summoned out ofthe dark places of the earth, Jim himself appeared, running down theside of the mountain, stooping low like a hunted animal. The sweatpoured from his face; his clothes were torn in ribbons and his handswere cut and bleeding.
"You see, I di
dn't break my word," he said; "but it ain't likely I'llescape now. I'm too tired. I've been runnin' for half the night."
Minnie was sobbing bitterly.
"Cousin Helen, couldn't we----" began Billie.
"But, my dear, how can we? What shall we do, Mr. Moore?"
"We couldn't hide him in the car. Besides, if they caught him, it wouldget you into no end of trouble," answered Daniel.
"He could have saved himself if it hadn't been for us," said Nancyreproachfully.
"We could disguise him in Billie's polo coat with a veil and goggles,"suggested Mary suddenly.
Don't blame these good people for what they now proceeded to do.Certainly it was the wildest, most reckless and dangerous adventure everengaged in by six sensible, well-brought-up people, and two of them atleast old enough to know better. Remember only that their sympathieswere very much engaged, and that every cent stolen from the limitedexpress was to be returned. While the horsemen were hidden behind a wallof rock, Jim's identity was changed. He became a female of uncertain agein a polo coat, an automobile bonnet, goggles and a chiffon veil, whichconcealed his countenance. And sitting between Miss Campbell and DanielMoore on the back seat he resembled any other motorist on a long trip.
They moved slowly down into the valley, and the horsemen as they passedlifted their black felt hats with quite a gallant air to Miss Campbelland her party.
And so Jim was snatched from the clutches of the law. As he will notappear again in this story it will probably interest you to know whatbecame of this highly romantic, daring individual. After turning over tothe railroad by a secret agent--none other than Daniel Moore himself--amost remarkable letter, printed below (which you no doubt have seen,since it was published broadcast in every paper in the country) andreturning every penny of the money taken that day from the passengers,Jim disappeared from the world as a public character. Taking his realname, Jim Dolan, he became a private citizen, and at this very momentJim and Minnie Dolan are tenants of one of Miss Campbell's beautifulfarms in the vicinity of West Haven. They have two children and areuseful members of society.
And all because a lady asked a common thief to eat supper with her andtreated him as a guest.
Here is Jim's letter to the railroad company, written in a large,sprawling handwriting:
"To Whom It May Concern--and chiefly the Union Pacific Railroad Company: The undersigned was once Jim Bowles, train robber. I am a reformed man from this day. I ain't got religion exactly, but the world is a better place than I thought it was. I made a mistake. There are some mighty nice people in it, after all. I herewith return moneys took; henceforth from now on forever more, amen, I lead a new life, so help me God! There are two kinds of repentant sinners. The ones that pray all day for forgiveness and forgets to work, and them that works so hard they haven't got no time to pray. I'm the last kind. I'm going to work. Amen!
"(signed) Jim Bowles--that was."