XXVIII
LARRY RIDES TO CEDAR
A soft wind swept the prairie, which was now bare of snow. Larry rode downthe trail that led through the Cedar Bluff. He was freely sprinkled withmire, for spring had come suddenly, and the frost-bleached sod was softwith the thaw; and when he pulled up on the wooden bridge to wait untilBreckenridge, who appeared among the trees, should join him, the riverswirled and frothed beneath. It had lately burst its icy chains, and cameroaring down, seamed by lines of foam and strewn with great fragments ofhalf-melted snow-cake that burst against the quivering piles.
"Running strong!" said Breckenridge. "Still, the water has not risen muchyet, and as I crossed the big rise I saw two of Torrance's cow-boysapparently screwing up their courage to try the ford."
"It might be done," said Larry. "We have one horse at Fremont that wouldtake me across. The snow on the ranges is not melting yet, and the icewill be tolerably firm on the deep reaches; but it's scarcely likely thatwe will want to swim the Cedar now."
"No," said Breckenridge, with a laugh, "the bridge is good enough for me.By the way, I have a note for you."
"A note!" said Larry, with a slight hardening of his face, for of lateeach communication that reached him had brought him fresh anxieties.
"Well," said Breckenridge drily, "I scarcely think this one should worryyou. From the fashion in which it reached me I have a notion it's from alady."
There was a little gleam in Larry's eyes when he took the note, andBreckenridge noticed that he was very silent as they rode on. When theyreached Fremont he remained a while in the stable, and when at last heentered the house Breckenridge glanced at him questioningly.
"You have something on your mind," he said. "What have you been doing,Larry?"
Grant smiled curiously. "Giving the big bay a rub down. I'm riding toCedar Range to-night."
"Have you lost your head?" Breckenridge stared at him. "Muller saw theSheriff riding in this morning, and it's more than likely he is at theRange. You are wanted rather more badly than ever just now, Larry."
Grant's face was quietly resolute as he took out the note and passed it tohis companion. "I have tried to do my duty by the boys; but I am going toCedar to-night."
Breckenridge opened the note, which had been written the previous day, andread, "In haste. Come to the bluff beneath the Range--alone--nineto-morrow night."
Then, he stared at the paper in silence until Grant, who watched himalmost jealously, took it from him. "Yes," he said, though his face wasthoughtful, "of course, you must go. You are quite sure of the writing?"
Grant smiled, as it were, compassionately. "I would recognize itanywhere!"
"Well," said Breckenridge significantly, "that is perhaps not veryastonishing, though I fancy some folks would find it difficult. The 'Inhaste' no doubt explains the thing, but it seems to me the last of it doesnot quite match the heading."
"It is smeared--thrust into the envelope wet," Larry said.
Breckenridge rose, and walked, with no apparent purpose, across the room."Larry," he said, "Tom and I will come with you. No--you wait a minute. Ofcourse, I know there are occasions on which one's friends' company issuperfluous--distinctly so; but we could pull up and wait behind thebluff--quite a long way off, you know."
"I was told to come alone." Larry turned upon him sharply.
Breckenridge made a gesture of resignation. "Then I'm not going to stayhere most of the night by myself. It's doleful. I'll ride over to Muller'snow."
"Will it be any livelier there?"
Breckenridge wondered whether Larry had noticed anything unusual in hisvoice, and managed to laugh. "A little," he said. "The fraeulein is prettyenough in the lamplight to warrant one listening to a good deal aboutMenotti and the franc tireurs. She makes really excellent coffee, too,"and he slipped out before Grant could ask any more questions.
Darkness was just closing down when the latter rode away. There was verylittle of the prairie broncho in the big horse beneath him, whose sire hadbrought the best blood that could be imported into that country, and hehad examined every buckle of girth and headstall as he fastened them. Healso rode, for lightness, in a thin deerskin jacket which fitted himclosely, with a rifle across his saddle, gazing with keen eyes across theshadowy waste when now and then a half-moon came out. Once he also drewbridle and sat still a minute listening, for he fancied he heard thedistant beat of hoofs, and then went on with a little laugh at hiscredulity. The Cedar was roaring in its hollow and the birches moaning ina bluff, but as the damp wind that brought the blood to his cheeks sank,there was stillness save for the sound of the river, and Grant decidedthat his ears had deceived him.
It behooved him to be cautious, for he knew the bitterness of thecattle-men against him, and the Sheriff's writ still held good; but Hettyhad sent for him, and if his enemies had lain in wait in every bluff andhollow he would have gone.
While he rode, troubled by vague apprehensions, which now and then gaveplace to exultation that set his heart throbbing, Hetty sat with MissSchuyler in her room at Cedar Range. An occasional murmur of voicesreached them faintly from the big hall below where Torrance and some ofhis neighbours sat with the Sheriff over their cigars and wine, and thegirls knew that a few of the most daring horsemen among the cow-boys hadtheir horses saddled ready. Hetty lay in a low chair with a book she wasnot reading on her knee, and Miss Schuyler, glancing at her now and thenover the embroidery she paid almost as little attention to, noticed theweariness in her face and the anxiety in her eyes. She laid down herneedle when Torrance's voice came up from below.
"What can they be plotting, Hetty?" she said. "Horses ready, that mostunpleasant Sheriff smiling cunningly as he did when I passed him talkingto Clavering, and the sense of expectancy. It's there. One could hear itin their voices, even if one had not seen their faces, and when I met yourfather at the head of the stairs he almost frightened me. Of course, hewas not theatrical--he never is--but I know that set of his lips and lookin his eyes, and have more than a fancy it means trouble for somebody. Isuppose he has not told you anything--in fact, he seems to have keptcuriously aloof from both of us lately."
Hetty turned towards her with a little spot of colour in her cheek andapprehension in her eyes.
"So you have noticed it, too!" she said very slowly. "Of course, he hasbeen busy and often away, while I know how anxious he must be; but when heis at home he scarcely speaks to me--and then, there is something in hisvoice that hurts me. I'm 'most afraid he has found out that I have beentalking to Larry."
Miss Schuyler smiled. "Well," she said, "that--alone--would not be such avery serious offence."
The crimson showed plainer in Hetty's cheek and there was a faint ring inher voice. "Flo," she said, "don't make me angry--I can't bear itto-night. Something is going to happen--I can feel it is--and you don'tknow my father even yet. He is so horribly quiet, and I'm afraid of aswell as sorry for him. It is a long while ago, but he looked just as hedoes now--only not quite so grim--during my mother's last illness. Oh, Iknow there is something worrying him, and he will not tell me--though hewas always kind before, even when he was angry. Flo, this horrible troublecan't go on for ever!"
Hetty had commenced bravely, but she faltered as she proceeded, and MissSchuyler, who saw her distress, had risen and was standing with one handon her shoulder when the maid came in. She cast a hasty glance at hermistress, and appeared, Flora Schuyler fancied, embarrassed, and desirousof concealing it.
"Mr. Torrance will excuse you coming down again," she said. "He may havesome of the Sheriff's men and one or two of the cow-boys in, and wouldsooner you kept your room. Are you likely to want me in the nexthalf-hour?"
"No," said Hetty. "No doubt you are anxious to find out what is goingon."
The maid went out, and Miss Schuyler fixed anxious eyes on her companion."What is the matter with the girl, Hetty?" she asked.
"I don't know. Did you notice anything?"
"Yes. I think she had something on her mind. Any
way, she wasunexplainably anxious to get away from you."
Hetty smiled somewhat bitterly. "Then she is only like the rest. Everybodyat Cedar is anxious about something now."
Flora Schuyler rose, and, flinging the curtains behind her, looked out atthe night. The moon was just showing through a rift in the driving cloud,and she could see the bluff roll blackly down to the white frothing of theriver. She also saw a shadowy object slipping through the gloom of thetrees, and fancied it was a woman; but when another figure appeared for amoment in the moonlight the first one came flitting back again.
"I believe the girl has gone out to meet somebody in the bluff," shesaid.
Hetty made a little impatient gesture. "It doesn't concern us, any way."
Miss Schuyler sat down again and made no answer, though she hadmisgivings, and five or ten minutes passed silently, until there was atapping at the door, and the maid came in, very white in the face. Sheclutched at the nearest chair-back, and stood still, apparently incapableof speech, until, with a visible effort, she said: "Somebody must go andsend him away. He is waiting in the bluff."
Hetty rose with a little scream, but Flora Schuyler was before her, andlaid her hand upon the maid's arm.
"Now, try to be sensible," she said sternly. "Who is in the bluff?"
The girl shivered. "It is not my fault--I didn't know what they wanteduntil the Sheriff came. I tried to tell him, but Joe saw me. Go right now,and send him away."
Hetty was very white and trembling, but Flora Schuyler nipped the maid'sarm.
"Keep quiet, and answer just what we ask you!" she said. "Who is in thebluff?"
"Mr. Grant," said the girl, with a gasp. "But don't ask me anything. Sendhim away. They'll kill him. Oh, you are hurting me!"
Flora Schuyler shook her. "How did he come there?"
"I took Miss Torrance's letter, and wrote the rest of it. I didn't knowthey meant to do him any harm, but they made me write. I had to--he saidhe would marry me."
The maid writhed in an agony of fear, but she stood still shivering whenHetty turned towards her with a blanched face that emphasized the ominousglow in her dark eyes.
"You wicked woman!" she said. "How dare you tell me that?"
"I mean Mr. Clavering. Oh----!"
The maid stopped abruptly, for Flora Schuyler drove her towards the door."Go and undo your work," she said. "Slip down at the back of the bluff."
"I daren't--I tried," and the girl quivered in Miss Schuyler's grasp. "IfI could have warned him I would not have told you; but Joe saw me, and Iwas afraid. I told him to come at nine."
It was evident that she was capable of doing very little just then, andFlora Schuyler drew her out into the corridor.
"Go straight to your room and stay there," she said, and closing the door,glanced at Hetty. "It is quite simple. This woman has taken yournote-paper and written Larry. He is in the bluff now, and I think she isright. Your friends mean to make him prisoner or shoot him."
"Stop, and go away," said Hetty hoarsely. "I am going to him."
Flora Schuyler placed her back to the door, and raised her hand. "No," shesaid, very quietly. "It would be better if I went in place of you. Sitdown, and don't lose your head, Hetty!"
Hetty seized her arm. "You can't--how could I let you? Larry belongs tome. Let me go. Every minute is worth ever so much."
"There are twenty of them yet. He has come too early," said FloraSchuyler, with a glance at the clock. "Any way, you must understand whatyou are going to do. It was Clavering arranged this, but your father knewwhat he was doing and I think he knows everything. If you leave this houseto-night, Hetty, everybody will know you warned Larry, and it will make agreat difference to you. It will gain you the dislike of all your friendsand place a barrier between you and your father which, I think, will neverbe taken away again!"
Hetty laughed a very bitter laugh, and then grew suddenly quiet.
"Stand aside, Flo," she said. "Nobody but Larry wants me now."
Miss Schuyler saw that she was determined, and drew aside. "Then," shesaid, with a little quiver in her voice, "because I think he is in perilyou must go, my dear. But we must be very careful, and I am coming withyou as far as I dare."
She closed the door, and then her composure seemed to fail her as theywent out into the corridor; and it was Hetty who, treading very softly,took the lead. Flitting like shadows, they reached the head of thestairway, and stopped a moment there, Hetty's heart beating furiously. Thepassage beneath them was shadowy, but a blaze of light and a jingle ofglasses came out of the half-opened door of the hall, where Torrance satwith his guests; and while they waited, they heard his voice andrecognized the vindictive ring in it. Hetty trembled as she grasped thebannister.
"Flo," she said, "they may come out in a minute. We have got to slip bysomehow."
They went down the stairway with skirts drawn close about them, in swiftsilence, and Hetty held her breath as she flitted past the door. There wasa faint swish of draperies as Flora Schuyler followed her, but the murmurof voices drowned it; and in another minute Hetty had opened a door at theback of the building. Then, she gasped with relief as she felt the coldwind on her face, and, with Miss Schuyler close behind her, crept throughthe shadow of the house towards the bluff. When the gloom of the treesclosed about them, she clutched her companion's shoulder.
"No," she said hoarsely, "not that way. Joe is watching there. We must goright through the bluff and down the opposite side of it."
They floundered forward, sinking ankle-deep in withered leaves and clammymould, tripping over rotting branches that ripped their dresses, andstumbling into dripping undergrowth. There was no moon now, and it wasvery dark, and more than once Flora Schuyler valiantly suppressed thescream that would have been a vast relief to her, and struggled on assilently as she could behind her companion; but it seemed to her thatanybody a mile away could have heard them. Then, a little trail led themout of the bluff on the opposite side to the house, and the roar of theriver grew louder as they hastened on, still in the gloom of the trees,until something a little blacker than the shadows behind it grew intovisibility; and when it moved a little, Flora Schuyler touched Hetty'sarm.
"Yes," she said. "It is Larry. If I didn't know the kind of man he is, Iwould not let you go. Kiss me, Hetty."
Hetty stood still a second, for she understood, and then very quietly putboth hands on Flora Schuyler's shoulders and kissed her.
"It can't be very wrong; and you have been a good friend, Flo," she said.
She turned, and Flora Schuyler, standing still, saw her slim figure flitacross a strip of frost-bleached sod as the moon shone through.