XIV
TORRANCE'S WARNING
In another moment the horseman pulled up, and sat motionless in his saddlewith his head turned towards the house. Hetty could see him silhouetted,shapeless and shadowy in his big fur-coat, against the whiteness of thesnow, and the relief she felt betrayed itself in her voice as she turnedto Miss Schuyler.
"Yes," she said, "it's Larry. There will be no more trouble now."
Flora Schuyler laughed a little breathless laugh, for though she also feltthe confidence her companion evinced, the strain had told on her.
"Of course," she said, "he knew you wanted him. There are men like that."
It was a simple tribute, but Hetty thrilled with pride. Larry was at leastconsistent, and now, as it had been in the days both looked back upon, hehad come when she needed him. She also recognized even then that the factthat he is generally to be found where he is wanted implies a good deal inthe favour of any man.
And now half-seen objects moved out from behind barn and stable, and thehorseman turned towards them. His voice rose sharply and commandingly.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
There was no answer for several moments, and then a man stepped forwardgesticulating fiercely as he commenced a tirade that was less than halfintelligible. Larry checked him with a lifted hand.
"There's a good deal of that I can't quite understand, and the restdoesn't seem to fit this case," he said, with a laugh that had more effectupon some of those who heard it than a flow of eloquence would have had."Boys, we have no use for worrying about the meanness of European kingsand folks of that kind. If you have brought any along I'd sooner listen tosensible Americans."
Another man stepped forward, and there was no doubt about his accent,though his tone was deprecatory.
"Well, it just comes to this," he said. "Torrance and the cattle-men havedone their best to starve us and freeze us out, and, since he has made itplain that there's no room for both of us, somebody has got to go. Now, wehave come a long way and we mean to stay. We're not looking for trouble,but we want our rights."
There was a murmur of encouragement from the rest, but again Larry's laughhad its effect. "Then you're taking a kind of curious way of gettingthem," he said. "I don't know that trying to burn folks' houses ever didanybody much good, and it's quite likely to bring a regiment of UnitedStates cavalry down on you. Mr. Torrance, I fancied I heard firing. Haveyou anybody hurt inside?"
"One of your men," said Torrance drily. "We hope to pull him round, andlet the Sheriff have him."
It was not a conciliatory answer, and came near undoing what Grant hadaccomplished; but the grim old cattle-baron was not the man to propitiatean enemy. A murmur followed it, and somebody said, "Boys, you hear him!Bring along that wagon. We're going in."
The form of speech was Western, but the voice was guttural, and when therewas a rattle of wheels Grant suddenly changed his tone.
"Stop right there," he said. "Throw every truss of hay down. The man whoholds off when I tell him what to do is going to have trouble with theexecutive."
It was a bold venture, and any sign of effort or unevenness of inflectionwould have rendered it futile, but the voice was sharp and ringing, andthe fashion in which the horseman flung up his arm commanding. It was,also, tactful, for some of those who heard it had been drilled intounreflecting obedience, and there is in the native American the respectfor a duly accredited leader, which discipline has further impressed uponthe Teuton. Still, those who watched from the window felt that this wasthe crisis, and tightened their numbed fingers on the rifles, knowing thatif the horseman failed they would shortly need them again. None of them,however, made any other movement, and Miss Schuyler, who, grasping Hetty'shand, saw the dim figures standing rigid and intent, could only hear thesnapping of the stove.
"Hetty," she gasped, "I shall do something silly in another moment."
The tension only lasted a moment or two. A man sprang up on the pole ofthe wagon, and a truss of hay went down. Another followed, and then, menwho had also felt the strain and now felt it a relief to do anything,clustered about the wagon. In a few minutes it was empty, and the men whohad been a mob turned to the one who had changed them into an organizedbody.
"What do you want now?" asked one of them.
"Run that wagon back where you got it from," said Larry.
It was done, and when the clustering figures vanished amidst a rattle ofwheels Torrance laid aside his rifle and sat down on the table.
"I guess there'll be no more trouble, boys. That's a thing there's notmany men could have done," he added.
His daughter also sat down in the nearest chair, with Flora Schuyler'shand still within her own. She had been very still while the suspenselasted, but she was trembling now, and her voice had a little quiver in itas she said, "Wasn't he splendid, Flo?"
It was some minutes before Grant and the other men came back again, andfragments of what he said were audible. "Then, you can pick out four men,and we'll hear them at the committee. I have two or three questions to askyou by and by. Half a dozen of you keep a look-out. The rest can get intothe stable out of the frost."
The men dispersed, and Grant turned towards the house. "I don't think youneed have any further anxiety, and you can shut that window if you wantto, Mr. Torrance."
Torrance laughed. "I don't know that I've shown any yet."
"I hope you haven't felt it," said Grant. "It is cold out here, and I'mwilling to come in and talk to you."
Somebody had moved the box away from the lamp, and Clavering's face showedup against the wavering shadow as he turned towards his leader. FloraSchuyler saw a little unpleasant smile on his lips as he pointedsuggestively to the men with rifles he had sent towards the door.
"That would suit us, sir," he said.
Torrance understood him, for he shook his head impatiently. "It wouldn'tpay. There would be too many of his friends wondering what had become ofhim. Get the door open and tell him to come in. Light the big lamps,somebody."
The door was opened, and, as if in confirmation of Torrance's warning, avoice rose up outside. "We have let him go, but if you try any meanness,or he isn't ready when we want him, we'll pull the place down," it said.
Larry walked out of the darkness into the blaze of light, and only smileda little when the great door swung to behind him and somebody brought thewindow banging down. Two men with rifles stepped between him and theformer; but if Torrance had intended to impress him, he had apparentlyfailed, for he moved forward with quiet confidence. The fur cap he held inhis hand was white, and the great fur coat stood out from his body stiffwith frost, while Hetty winced when she saw the pallor of his face. It wasevident that it was not without a strenuous effort he had made the mobsubservient to him.
But his eyes were grave and steady, in spite of the weariness in them, andas he passed the girls he made a little formal inclination with his head.He stopped in front of Torrance, who rose from his seat on the table, andfor a moment the two men looked at one another. Both stood very straight,one lean, and dark, and commanding, with half-contemptuous anger in hisblack eyes; the other of heavier frame and brown of skin and hair savewhere what he had done had left its stamp of pallor. Yet, different asthey were in complexion and feature, it seemed to Miss Schuyler, whowatched them intently, that there was a curious, indefinite resemblancebetween them. They were of the same stock and equally resolute, eachready, it seemed, to stake all he had on what he held the right.
Flora Schuyler, who had trained her observation, also read what they feltin their faces, and saw in that of Torrance grudging approval tempered byscorn of the man who had trampled on the traditions of those he sprangfrom. She fancied that Larry recognized this and that it stung him, thoughhe would not show that it did, and his attitude pleased her most. It wasunyielding, but there was a deference that became him in it.
"I am sorry I did not arrive soon enough to save you this inconvenience,sir," he said.
Torrance smiled grim
ly, and there was a hardness in his voice. "You havebeen here a good many times, Larry, and we did our best for you. None ofus fancied that you would repay us by coming back with a mob of rabble topull the place down."
Grant winced perceptibly. "Nobody is more sorry than I am, sir."
"Aren't you a trifle late?"
"I came as soon as I got word."
Torrance made a little gesture of impatience. "That's not what I mean.There is very little use in being sorry now. Before the other fools youjoined started there talking there was quietness and prosperity in thiscountry. The men who had made it what it is got all, but nothing more thanthey were entitled to, and one could enjoy what he had worked for andsleep at night. This was not good enough for you--and this is what youhave made of it."
He stretched out his arm with a forceful gesture, pointing to the men withrifles, the two white-faced girls, and the splinters on the wall, thendropped his hand, and Larry's eyes rested on the huddled figure lying bythe stove. He moved towards it, and bent down without a word, and it wasat least five minutes before he came back again, his face dark and stern.
"You have done nothing for him?" he said.
"AREN'T YOU A TRIFLE LATE?"--Page 160.]
"No," said Torrance, "we have not. I guess nature knows what's best forhim, and I didn't see anything to be gained by rousing him with brandy tostart the bleeding."
"Well, first of all, I want that man."
"You can have him. We had meant him for the Sheriff, but what you did justnow lays me in your debt, and I would not like to feel I owed youanything."
Grant made a little gesture. "I don't think I have quite deserved that,sir. I owe you a good deal, and it makes what I have to do harder still.Can't you remember that there was a time when you were kind to me?"
"No," said Torrance drily. "I don't want to be reminded when I have donefoolish things. I tried to warn you, but you would not listen to me, thatthe trail you have started on will take you a good deal farther than youmeant to go. If you have anything to tell me, I would sooner talkbusiness. Are you going to bring your friends round here at night again?"
"They came without me, and, if I can help it, will not come back. Thisthing will be gone into, and the leaders punished by our committee. Now,are you willing to stop the intimidation of the storekeepers, which hasbrought about this trouble, and let us get provisions in the town? I canoffer you something in exchange."
"No," said Torrance. "Do what suits you best. I can make no terms withyou. If it hadn't been for my foolishness in sending the boys off with thecattle, very few of your friends would have got away from Cedar Rangeto-night."
"I'll take my man away. I can thank you for that at least," was Grant'sanswer.
He moved to the door and opened it, and three men came in. They did hisbidding, and all made way for them when they tramped out unsteadily withtheir burden. Then, he turned once more to Torrance with his fur cap inhis hand.
"I am going now, sir, and it is hard to tell what may happen before wemeet again. We have each got a difficult row to hoe, and I want to leaveyou on the best terms I can."
Torrance looked at him steadily, and Grant returned it with a curiousgravity, though there were fearless cattle-men at Cedar Range who did notcare to meet its owner's gaze when he regarded them in that fashion. Witha just perceptible gesture he directed the younger man's attention to thered splashes on the floor.
"That alone," he said quietly, "would stand between you and me. We madethis land rich and peaceful, but that did not please you and the rest, whohad not sense to see that while human nature's what it is, there's no useworrying about what you can't have when you have got enough. You wentround sowing trouble, and by and by you'll have to reap it. You brought inthe rabble, and were going to lead them, and make them farmers; but nowthey will lead you where you don't want to go, and when you have giventhem all you have, turn and trample on you. With the help of the men whoare going back on their own kind, they may get us down, but when that timecomes there will not be a head of cattle left, or a dollar in thetreasury."
"I can only hope you are mistaken, sir," said Grant.
"I have lived quite a long while, but I have never seen the rabble keepfaith with anyone longer than it suited them," the older man said. "Anyway, that is not the question. You will be handed to the Sheriff if youcome here again. I have nothing more to tell you, and this is, I hope, thelast time I shall ever speak to you."
Miss Schuyler watched Grant closely, but though his face was drawn andset, she saw only a respect, which, if it was assumed, still became him inhis bearing as he turned away. As he passed the girls he bent his head,and Hetty, whose cheeks were flushed, rose with a formal bow, though hereyes shone suspiciously, but Flora Schuyler stepped forward and held outher hand.
"Mr. Torrance can't object to two women thanking you for what you havedone; and if he does, I don't greatly mind," she said.
Torrance only smiled, but the warm bronze seemed to have returned toLarry's face as he passed on. Flora Schuyler had thanked him, but he hadseen what was worth far more to him in Hetty's eyes, and knew that it wasonly loyalty to one who had the stronger claim that held her still. Afterthe door closed behind him there was once more a curious stillness in thehall until Torrance went out with his retainers. A little later Claveringfound the girls in another room.
"You seem quite impressed, Miss Schuyler," he said.
"I am," said Flora Schuyler. "I have seen a man who commands one'sapprobation--and an American."
Clavering laughed. "Then, they're not always quite the same thing?"
"No," Flora Schuyler said coldly. "That was one of the pleasant fancies Ihad to give up a long time ago."
"I would like a definition of the perfected American," said Clavering.
Miss Schuyler yawned. "Can't you tell him, Hetty? I once heard you talkquite eloquently on that subject."
"I'll try," said Hetty. "It's the man who wants to give his countrysomething, and not get the most he can out of it. The one who goes roundplanting seeds that will grow and bear fruit, even if it is long after heis there to eat it. No country has much use for the man who only wants toreap."
Clavering assented, but there was a sardonic gleam in his eyes. "Well," hesaid reflectively, "there was once a man who planted dragon's teeth, andyou know what kind of crop they yielded him."
"He knew what he was doing," said Flora Schuyler. "The trouble is that nowfew men know a dragon's tooth when they see it."
Clavering laughed. "Then the ones who don't should be stopped right offwhen they go round planting anything."