CHAPTER XVIII.
A larger number than usual of possible customers and evident idlers weregathered at Billy West's country store on the Tuesday morning followingCourt Day, discussing the latest news.
The building was a small one-room frame, set in an angle made by theWillis Mill dirt lane and the New Pike, an ideal spot for an exchange ofnews, often bordering on gossip, and a convenient halfway resting placefor those homeward bound, or else on their way to mill or town.
The proprietor's small stock of merchandise consisted of a heterogeneouscollection, well suited to the needs of the locality, and ranging invariety from knitting needles, for the industrious matron at herfireside in the long winter evenings, to plow-shares, which her sturdyspouse might grasp when the soil demanded tilling in the spring. Thevaried mixture of farming implements, groceries and clothing presentedthe appearance of having been deposited by some friendly passingwhirlwind, for the owner was of far too sociable a nature to devote muchtime to "stock-keeping."
When an article was wanted, it generally had to be hunted for, unless itchanced to fall under the immediate range of vision of salesman orcustomer, while the crowded shelves and counters presented a bewilderingarray of tinware, glassware, patent medicines, clocks, trimmed hats,churns, gaudy neckwear, cheap clothing, mock jewelry, hair-oils andcolored perfumes put up in glass bottles of seductive shapes, along withsundry articles great and small necessary to the needs and adornment ofthe people of the surrounding country.
It was not for lack of time that Billy allowed his stock to fall intothis chaotic confusion, for he had much leisure on his hands, but, as Ihave before remarked, he was of a sociable nature, and usually spent hisspare moments tilted back in a well-worn chair under a locust tree, ifthe weather was warm, indulging in neighborhood news, or else wasengaged in an exhaustive argument with his circle of solons as to howthe government should be properly run.
If the season necessitated shelter, the usual coterie removed itssittings to the rear of the store, while during the rigorous wintermonths checker-playing afforded amusement, the board being of whitepine, home-made, in alternate inked squares, and the checkers of blackand white horn buttons supplied from the general stock.
On the morning I have mentioned, the air was yet cool from a frostynight, but the sun shone brightly, giving promise of speedy warmth, asthe day advanced, and the little company chose the sunlight, beingsheltered from the breeze by the front of the building, which faced theeast.
Moses Hunn, an old stager, was descanting on the previous night's raid,having first borrowed a chew of long-green tobacco from his nearestneighbor. Moses was an inveterate chewer and had been relying on hisfriends for tobacco for the last twenty years.
"Yes, sir, they say them night-riders fit like wild cats."
"The guards didn't seem to be of much use," interposed Billy.
"They were pretty good at stopping bullets," Moses averred. "GeorgeScott was shot three times in the leg an' twice in the body, I heard,an' four bullets grazed Joe Waters' skull."
"It must be bullet-proof," a voice insisted.
"The news is they've shot one of the riders, too. Leastways, blood wasfound on the pike, an' also on a hat one of the raiders dropped."
"Any of you wearin' new hats this mornin'?" asked Billy with an affectedshow of inspecting the head-gear of the crowd.
"I noticed Mose limpin' as he come up," a voice declared.
"Mose has been drawin' a pension for that same limp for a good manyyears past, so I don't think the guards can be charged with _that_,"affirmed the storekeeper.
"Well, folks seem bent on havin' free roads," remarked the owner of thelimp, as he sighted a knot-hole in a box near by, and, with the aim of apracticed chewer, adroitly sent a squirt of tobacco juice through it.
"Yes, an' I'm mightily afraid folks'll have the worst of the bargainwhen they do get free roads," answered Billy, with a dubious shake ofhis head. "We won't have no such good roads as we've got now."
"Free roads'll make dead agin you, Billy," insisted Mose. "I'm notblamin' you for not favorin' 'em, for when folks can go to town, an' itnot costin' 'em a cent, of course they're goin' so you'll lose many agood nickle that now drops in your till."
"How did the sheriff get wind of the raid?" asked Billy, changing anunpleasant subject.
"There must be a traitor."
"Lordy! I wouldn't care to be in his shoes if they ever find him."
"They'll find him all right enough."
"An' swing him, high as Haman."
"Sure!"
Along in the evening, soon after sundown, Billy West closed his store afull half-hour earlier than usual, and went to his boarding house, not agreat distance away. A little later he might have been seen canteringdown the pike on his chestnut filly, arrayed in his best suit, andwearing the reddest and most conspicuous necktie his stock afforded,while the oily smoothness of his locks, and the odor of cheap colognethat hung persistently about him, announced the fact that he was onpleasure bent. To one acquainted with the state of his affections, itwas an easy matter to guess that old man Saunders' was his probabledestination.
This proved to be the case. Only the day before he had made anengagement with Sophronia to escort her to the New Pike gate, where shewas to spend the night with her bosom friend, Sally, then go on to townthe next day to do some shopping.
"I scarcely knew whether to come for you or not, after what happenedlast night," said the cavalier apologetically, when he reached Mr.Saunders'.
"I couldn't have blamed you, if you hadn't come," declared Sophroniafrankly. "Is it safe to go?" she asked in sudden perplexity.
"I don't think you'll be disturbed tonight, after the failure the ridersmade last night. There's an old sayin' that lightnin' seldom strikestwice in the same place."
"But night-riders may," insisted Sophronia.
"I doubt it. Even if they should come, they wouldn't want _you_. Ireally don't know of but one person that does," Billy added with anengagingly meaning look.
"I could name half a dozen, at least," retorted Sophronia, with acoquettish toss of her head, as her cavalier assisted her to mount.
Sally was most glad to see her visitors, for she earnestly hoped throughSophronia or her beau, at least, to learn something of MiltonDerr--whether there were any rumors of his being hurt, or if either ofthem had seen him since yesterday. If not, it augered ill for the ownerof the blood-stained hat which had been picked up in the road near thetoll-house.
Finally, when her mother had gone out of the room, Sally hurriedly askedconcerning the young man, and on learning that he had not been seen, sheadded that she had an important message for him, and asked Billy to tellhim so within the next day or two, if possible.
That night in the privacy of her room, and under a promise of thedeepest secrecy on Sophronia's part, Sally confided to her bosom friendthe besetting fear that Milt had been wounded the night before.
"Try and see him for me. If he's much hurt, let me know at once, but ifhe isn't, tell him to leave here as quickly as possible, that he isstrongly suspected of being a raider, and to go away before any arrestsare made. Tell him to go at once."
"How did you find out about the night-riders coming?" asked Sophronia.
"Through Squire Bixler. He's got a spy that's keeping him posted, and, Ibelieve, this spy told him they would come last night."
"How do you know there's a spy?" asked her friend thoughtfully.
"I overheard him talking to the Squire one day when I was hid behind thestone wall that runs along the pike," and straightway the girl relatedthe whole occurrence to her friend. "It's a hatched-up plot between theSquire and this man to get Milt into trouble," she added in conclusion.
"Didn't you see who the other man was?" asked Sophronia, beginning toconnect this fact with some other circumstances in her mind, as linksare added to a chain.
"No I was afraid to peep over the fence for fear they might see me."
"Could it have been Jade Beddow?"
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"No, I would have known his voice. It wasn't him, I'm certain of that.There was something about the man's voice that held a familiar sound, asif I had heard it before, but I can't place it."
"Do you think you would recognize it if you should hear it again?"
"Yes, I'm sure I should."
"Then I b'lieve I can run that spy to the ground," said Sophroniadecisively. "I believe I know the man an' the place where he's buriedthe money he got for tellin' on the raiders."
"You don't say!" cried Sally, in open-eyed wonder.
"Yes," answered her friend impulsively. "You go back with me to-morrownoon, when I come from town, an' I'll take you to the very spot, an'show you the very man."