XXXIII
ELSIE CONFESSES HER LOVE
As he paused on the steps to the hotel, a gust of bitter rage swept overhim. "What can I do against this implacable town? Oh, for a squad of theboys in blue!"
The street and square were filled with men all running, as to a fire,from left to right--a laughing, jesting throng. Along the hitching-polesexcited and jocular cowboys were loosing their ponies and leaping totheir saddles. Some excitable citizen had begun to ring the fire-bell,and women, bareheaded and white with fear, were lining the sidewalks andleaning from windows. The town resembled an ant-hill into which afleeing bison has planted a foot.
"Oh, sir!" cried one young mother as she caught sight of Curtis, "arethe Injuns coming?"
"No," he replied, bitterly, "these marauders are not Indians; they arenoble citizens," and set off at a run towards the corral in which TwoHorns and Crow were camped. The tumult behind him grew fainter, and atlast died to a murmur, and only one or two houses showed a light.
Ladue's was an old ranch on the river, around which the town of Pinonhad for twenty years been slowly growing. The cabin was of stone, lowand strong, and two sides of it formed the corner of a low corral ofcottonwood logs. In this enclosure teamsters (for two bits) were allowedto camp and feed their horses. A rickety gate some fifty feet south ofthe house stood ajar, and Curtis entered the yard, calling sharply forCrow Wing and Two Horns. No one replied. Searching the stalls, he foundthe blankets wherein they had lain, but the tumult had undoubtedlycalled them forth into danger.
Hurrying to the house, he knocked most vigorously at the door--to noeffect. The shack was also empty. Closing the door with a slam, theyoung officer, now thoroughly alarmed, turned back towards the hotel. Avast, confused clamor, growing each moment louder, added edge to hisapprehension. The crowd was evidently returning from the jail, jubilantand remorseless. Upon reaching the corner of the square Curtis turned tothe left, with the design of encircling it, hoping to find the tworedmen looking on from a door-way on the outskirts of the throng.
He had crossed but one side of the plaza, when a band of cowboys dashedin from the opposite corner with swinging lariats, whooping shrilly, inclose pursuit of a flying footman. A moment later a rope looped, thefugitive fell and the horsemen closed round him in joyous clamor, likedogs around a fox.
With a fear that this was one of his men, Curtis raised a great shout,but his voice was lost in the rush and roar of the throng pouring intowards the fugitive. In fierce rage he rushed straight towards thewhirling mass of horsemen, but before he had passed half the interveningspace a horseman circled the pavilion, and the popping of a revolver,swift yet with deliberate pauses, began. Wild yells broke forth, thepursuers scattered, other revolvers began to crack, and as the press ofhorsemen reeled back, Curtis perceived Calvin, dismounted andbareheaded, with his back against the wall of the little woodenband-stand, defiant, a revolver in each hand, holding the mob at bay,while over his head a light sputtered and sizzled.
A lane seemed to open for Curtis as he ran swiftly in towards thewrithing, ensnared captive on the ground. It was Two Horns, strugglingwith the ropes which bound him, and just as his Little Father bent overhim the big Tetong freed himself, and, with a sliding rush, entered theshadow by Calvin's side. Instantly his revolver began to speak.
Curtis, left alone in the full light of the lamp on the pavilion, raisedhis arms and shouted: "Hold! Cease firing!" The crowd recognized him andfell silent. The army blue subdued them, and those who had done theshooting began to edge away.
For a moment the young soldier could not speak, so furious was he, butat last he found words: "Cowards! Is this your way of fighting--ahundred to one? Where is your mayor? Have you no law in this town?" Heturned to Calvin, who stood still, leaning against the pavilion. "Areyou hurt?"
Calvin lifted one dripping hand. "I reckon I'm punched a few. My rightarm feels numb, and the blood is fillin' my left boot. But I'm all here,sure thing." But even as he spoke he reeled. Curtis caught him; hesmiled apologetically: "That left leg o' mine, sure feels like ahitchin'-post; reckon some one must o' clipped a nerve somewhere."
Two Horns seized him by the other arm, just as Winters blustered intothe circle. "What's going on here; who's doin' this shootin'?"
"This is a good time to ask that," remarked Curtis. "Where were youtwenty minutes ago?"
Calvin struggled to get his right hand free. "Let me have a crack at thebeast!" he pleaded. "I saw you," he said to Winters: "you were in thelynching crowd, you sneak! You hung round in the shadow like a coyote."
Curtis tried to calm him. "Come, this won't do, Calvin; you are losingblood and must have a doctor; come to the hotel."
As they half-carried him away the young rancher snarled back, like awounded wolf: "I disown the whole cowardly pack of ye; I put my mark onsome of ye, too."
The crowd was now so completely with Calvin that Winters hastened toexplain: "Cal is my deputy; he was acting inside his duty! He was tryingto keep the peace and you had no business fightin'," and proceeded toarrest some fairly innocent by-standers, while the wounded desperadoeswere being swiftly hidden away by their friends, and the remainingcitizens of the town talked of what should have been done.
Calvin continued to explain as they hurried him through the excitedthrong. "I tried to stand 'em off at the jail," he said, "but I couldn'tget near enough; my cayuse was used up. Oh, you was there!" he called toa tall man with a new sombrero, "I saw you, Bill Vawney, and I'll getyou for it; I've spotted you!"
He was enraged through every fibre of his strong, young body, and onlythe iron grip of the persistent men kept him from doing battle.
As they neared the hotel, Curtis, looking up, glimpsed Elsie's whiteface at the window and waved his cap at her. She clapped her hands injoy of his return, but did not smile. The hotel lobby was packed with asilent mass of men, but the landlord, with authoritative voice, calledout: "Clear the way, gentlemen!" and a lane opened for them. "Right inhere," he added, and led the way to the parlor bedroom. The Captain andCalvin were now most distinguished of citizens; nothing was too good forthem.
"Bring a physician," said Curtis.
"Right here," replied a cool, clear voice, and Doctor Philipps steppedto Calvin's side and relieved Two Horns.
The young rancher sank down on the bed limply, but smiled as heexplained: "I'm only singed a little, doc. They had me foul. You see, Iwas in the light, but I handed one or two of them something they didn'tlike. I left a keepsake with 'em. They won't forget me soon."
The physician pressed him back upon the bed and began to strip hisclothes from him. "Be quiet for five minutes and I'll have you in shape.We must close up your gashes."
Curtis, relieved of part of his anxiety, then asked: "How is theSenator?"
"Pretty comfortable; no danger."
"Don't leave me, Major," called Calvin, as Curtis turned away to seekElsie. "Don't let this chap cut me up. I'm no centipede. I need all mylegs."
There was genuine pleading in the boy's voice, and Curtis came back andtook a chair near him while the doctor probed the wounds and dressedthem. The officer's heart was very tender towards the reckless,warm-hearted young rancher as he watched his face whiten and the lipsstiffen in the effort to conceal his pain. "Calvin, you've been loyalall through," he said, "and we won't forget it."
At last, when the wounds were bandaged and the worst of the pain over,Curtis turned to Two Horns and signed:
"Where is Crow and the wife of Cut Finger?"
"I do not know."
"I will go find him; you remain here. Do not fear; you are safe now. Sitdown by Calvin's bed. You will sleep here to-night."
As he made his way through the close-packed mass of excited men in thelobby and before the hotel, Curtis met no hostile face. It seemed thatall men were become his friends, and eager to disclaim any share in themob's action. He put their proffered hands aside and hurried back toLadue's, which he found close-barred and dark.
"Who's there?" called a
shaking voice as he knocked.
"Captain Curtis. Where is Crow?"
"In here!" was the answer, in joyful voice. As he opened the door, Laduereached his hand to the agent. "My God, I'm glad it is you! I was afraidyou'd been wiped out. Where is Two Horns?"
Crow, with his revolver still gripped in his hand, stepped forward, hisface quivering with emotion. "Little Father, it is good to see you; youare not hurt? Where is Two Horns?"
"Safe in the big house with me. The evil white men are gone; you willcamp here, you and the wife of Cut Finger," he signed as he saw thecowering form of the little wife.
Ladue, a big, hulking, pock-marked half-breed, began to grin. "I wasa-scared; I sure was. I thought we was all goin' to hang. Old Bill Yarpewas out for game."
"The better citizens are in control now," replied Curtis. "You are safe,but you'd better remain in the house till morning."
As Curtis made his way through the crowd some one raised a cheer for"Major Curtis," and the cry was taken up by a hundred voices. Indignantcitizens shouted: "We'll stand by you, Major. We'll see justice done."
Curtis, as he reached the stair-way, turned and coldly said: "Make yourwords good. For four days a mob of two hundred armed men have menacedthe lives of my employes and my wards, and you did nothing to preventthem. I am glad to see you appreciate the horror and the disgrace ofthis night's doings. If you mean what you say, let no guilty man escape.Make this night the memorable end of lawlessness in your country."
"We will!" roared a big, broad-faced, black-bearded man, and the crowdbroke into another roar of approval.
Elsie was waiting at the top of the stairs, tense and white. Her eyesburned down into his with a singular flame as she cried out:
"Why didn't you come to me sooner? Why do you walk so slowly? Are youhurt? Tell me the truth!"
"No, only tired," he answered, as he reached her side.
She put out her hand and touched his breast. "You are; you are allbloody. Take off your coat; let me see!"
"No, it's not mine; it is poor Calvin's; he was badly wounded; he leanedagainst me."
"But I saw you standing in the pistol-fire; take it off, I say!" Hervoice was almost frenziedly insistent.
He removed his coat in a daze of astonishment, and she cried out,triumphantly: "See! I was right; your shirt is soaked. You are wounded!"
"True enough!" he replied, looking down in surprise at a big stain onhis shoulder. "I've been 'singed,' as Calvin calls it. It can't beserious, for I have not felt it."
A sudden faintness seized upon Elsie as she gazed fixedly upon thetell-tale stain. A gray whiteness passed over her face. "Oh, God!suppose you had been killed!" she whispered.
In that shuddering whisper was the expression of the girl's complete andfinal surrender, and Curtis did not question, did not speak; he took herin his arms to comfort her.
"My sweetheart, you _do_ love me! I doubt no more. My poverty, yourwealth, what do they matter?"
She suddenly started away. "Oh, your wound! Where is the doctor? Go tohim!"
"The touch of your lips has healed me," he protested, but she insisted.
"Go! You are bleeding!" she commanded; and so, reluctantly, lingeringly,with most unmilitary sloth, he turned away, made numb to any physicalpain by the tenderness in her voice.
As the young surgeon was dressing the gash, he said: "Well, Captain,things happen in the West."
"Yes, the kind of things which ought not to happen anywhere. I supposethey lynched poor Cut Finger?"
"No; they merely shot him and dragged him to death, as near as I canlearn."
Curtis clinched his fists. "Ah, the devils! Where is the body?"
"Back in the corridor of the jail."
Curtis pondered the effect of this news on the tribe. "It's a littledifficult to eliminate violence from an inferior race when such crueltyis manifested in those we call their teachers."
He sent for Ladue, who was deep in discussion of the evening's eventswith Crow and Two Horns, and said to him: "Do not tell the wife of CutFinger of the death of her husband; wait till morning. What the sheriffwill do with the body I do not know. To-morrow say to her, 'All is over;go with the agent.' It will do her no good to remain here. Good-night!"
* * * * *
It was hard to realize in the peaceful light of the following morningthat the little square had been the scene of so much cruelty and riot.The townspeople came forth yawning and lax, and went about their dutiesmechanically. Crow Wing and Two Horns, who would camp nowhere but onthe floor of Curtis's room, were awake at dawn, conversing in signs, inorder not to disturb the Little Father.
He, waking a little later, called to them in greeting and said: "Now allis quiet. The white men are sorry. You are safe. Go to Paul's, eat andget ready. We must start at once for the agency. Cut Finger did an illdeed, and brought trouble on us all. Now he is dead, but good may comeout of it. Go, tell the little wife; be gentle with her; say to her Iwish her to go home with us."
Silently, soberly, the two redmen left the room, and Curtis dressed andwent at once to find Calvin. The boy looked up as Curtis entered andcheerily called: "Hello, Major, I've had a lively dream. I dreamed therewas some gun-play goin' on out in the square and you and I were in it.Was that right?"
"I've a sore place here on my shoulder that says you are. How do youfeel? Can you travel? If you can, I'll take you home in my buckboard."
"I can travel all right, but I haven't any home to go to. The old manand I haven't hitched very well for a year, and this will just aboutturn me out on the range."
"Well, come home with me, then; Jennie will soon have you all rightagain; she's a famous nurse, and will look out for you till your mothercomes over, as she will. Mothers don't go back on their boys."
A curious dimness came into the bold, keen eyes of the wounded youth."Major, that'll suit me better than anything else I know."
"Very well, if the doctor says you can travel, we'll go along together,"replied Curtis.
He was eager to see Elsie and was pacing impatiently up and down thehall when Lawson met him, smiling, imperturbable. "Well, Captain, howare you this morning?"
"Have you seen Miss Brisbane?"
"No; she is still asleep, I hope. The Senator is conscious, but in acurious state; seems not to know or care where he is; his troubles areover."
Even as he spoke a maid came from Elsie's room to say that her mistresswould breakfast in her own parlor, and wished both Mr. Lawson andCaptain Curtis to join her in half an hour.
Lawson, in discussing the events of the night, was decidedly optimistic."This outbreak will bring about a reaction," he said, with conviction."You will find every decent man on your side to-day."
"I hope so," responded Curtis. "But last night's mob made me long for myGray-Horse Troop."
When they entered the little parlor Elsie rose and passed straight toCurtis without coquetry or concealment. "How is your wound? Did yousleep?"
He assured her that he was almost as well as ever, and not till she hadconvinced herself of the truth did she turn to Lawson. "Osborne, I cannever thank you enough for your good, kind help."
Osborne protested that he had done nothing worth considering, and theytook seats at the table--a subdued and quiet group, for Lawson was stillsuffering from his loss, and the lovers could not conceal fromthemselves the knowledge that this was their last meeting for many longmonths. Elsie was a being transformed, so tender, so wilful, sostrangely sweet and womanly was she in every smile and in everygesture.
They dwelt upon impersonal topics so long as Lawson remained; but he,being ill at ease, hastened with his coffee, and soon made excuse towithdraw, leaving them alone. For a moment they faced each other, andthen, with a wistful cadence in his voice, Curtis said, "Dear girl, it'shard to say good-bye now, just when I have found you, but I must returnat once."
"Oh, must you? Can't you wait till we go--this afternoon?"
"No; I must be the first to carry this dreadful news
to my people."
"You are right, of course; but I'll miss you so, and you need me. Sayyou need me!"
"Need you! Of course I do; but you cannot stay with me and I cannot gowith you."
"I know, I know!" she sighed, resignedly. "But it hurts all the same."
"This tumult will die out soon," he went on, in the effort to comforther, "and then I can come on to Washington for a visit. I warn you I'velost all my scruples; seventeen hundred million dollars are as straws inmy path, now that I know you really care for me."
"I don't feel rich now; I feel very poor. You must come to Washingtonsoon."
"I warn you that when I come I will ask hard things of you!" He rose andhis face darkened. "But my duty calls!"
She came to him and yielded herself to his embrace. "My queenly,beautiful girl! It is sweet to have you here in my arms; but I _must_say good-bye--good-bye."
In spite of his words he held her till she, with an instinctivemovement, pushed from his arms. "Go--go quick!" she exclaimed, in a low,imperative voice.
Not staying to wonder at the meaning of her strange dismissal, he turnedand left the room without looking back.
Only after he had helped Calvin into the wagon, and had taken his seatbeside him, did the young soldier lift his eyes in search of her face atthe window. She was looking down upon him, tears were on her cheeks, butshe blew a kiss from her finger-tips, not caring if all the world werethere to see.