CHAPTER XXVI
UNDER THE VEIL
There was no moon. Only a starry sheen lit the night. A wonderfulpeace had descended upon the hills. The quiet was the hush of thestill prairie night. Teeming maybe with restless life; but it was alife invisible, and rarely audible. Nevertheless the hush was merely aveil. A veil which concealed, but had no power to sweep away thegarnered harvest of violent human passions.
The figure of a man lay stretched upon his back on the bank of theriver. His head was carefully pillowed. A covering had been spreadover the upper body, as though to hide that which lay beneath, ratherthan yield warmth and comfort on the summer night. The covering was acoat, a woman's coat, and the owner of it sat crouching over her charge.
Nan stirred. She reached out and tucked the long skirts of the coatunder the man's shoulders with that mother instinct at once sosolicitous, so tender. She shifted her position which had becomecramped with her long vigil. These were moments of darkness, literaland mental. Her anxiety and dread were almost overwhelming. Thewaiting seemed interminable.
She raised her eyes from her yearning regard of the still, bandagedhead with its pale features. She sighed, as she turned them in anotherdirection, toward an object lying beneath the shadow of a great redwillow near by. It was a dark object, huddled and, like the other,quite still. A curious sort of fascination held her for some moments,then, almost reluctantly, as though impelled by the trend of herfeelings, her gaze wandered in the direction whence was wafted towardher a pungent reek of burning. It was the dimly outlined skeleton ofthe station house, roofless and partly fallen, white-ashed and stillfaintly smoking.
For long moments she regarded this sign of the destruction which hadbeen wrought. Nor was the sigh which escaped her wholly of regret. Adeep stirring was in her heart. She was thinking of the heroic battlewhich the station home had witnessed. She was thinking of thedesperate odds one man had faced within those four walls. She wasthinking, too, of the victory which ultimately had been his. But thecost. She shuddered. And her eyes came back to the white upturnedfeatures of the man before her.
She started. The man's eyes were open. Tenderly she raised a hand andsmoothed the cold forehead with its soft palm. Tears of emotion hadgathered in her eyes on the instant. But they did not overflow downher cheeks.
The eyes closed again. The lids moved slowly, as though reluctant toperform their office. The girl literally held her breath. Would theyopen again? Or---- Her question was answered almost on the instant.They reopened. This time even more widely. They were staring straightup at the starlit sky, quite unmoving. There was no consciousness inthem, and barely life.
Nan waited for some long apprehensive moments. Her heart was full of awild, new-born hope. But fear held her, too. At last she moved. Shewithdrew herself gently but swiftly. Then she stood up, a picture ofdapper womanhood in the white shirt-waist and loose riding breecheswhich the coat spread over the man's body should have held concealed.A moment later the darkness swallowed her up as she sped down the trailwhich passed near by.
With her going there crept into the man's vacant eyes the first realsign of life.
Five minutes later the girl was back at his side. But she had notreturned alone. Bud was with her, and together they bent over theprostrate form. The girl was kneeling. She had gently takenpossession of one of the bandaged hands lying inert at the man's side.Tenderly enough she held it between her own soft palms and chafed it,while her shining eyes, yielding all the secrets of her devoted heart,gazed yearningly down into his.
"Jeff!" she murmured, in a low, eager tone. "Jeff!"
There was no response. The eyes were fixed and staring.
Bud had less scruples in his anxious impatience.
"Say, that ain't no sort o' way to wake him, Nan," he whisperedhoarsely. Then in his deep gruff voice he displayed his betterunderstanding. "Say, Jeff! You ken hear me, boy. You're jestfoolin'. Say, hark to this. You beat 'em. You beat 'emsingle-handed, an' shot 'em plumb down."
Curiously enough there was almost instant result, and Bud'ssatisfaction became evident. The staring eyes relaxed their regard ofthe starry heavens. The lids flickered, then the eyes themselvesturned in the direction whence came those sonorous tones.
"You ken hear?"
Bud's words came on the instant, and were full of triumph. Then heturned to the girl who had promptly relinquished Jeff's hand.
"We ain't got a thing to hand him, 'cep' it's water," he saidhalf-angrily. "We can't jest move him, not nothin', till the boys gitalong with the wagon, an' that blamed dope merchant gits around. Whatin hell ken we do?"
"Wait."
Nan's finality robbed her father of his complaint.
"Guess we'll hev to. Say----"
"Yes?"
"Do you guess he ken talk if he feels that way?"
But Nan was no longer giving him any attention. All her thoughts, allher being was for the man before them.
A faint tinge of color was creeping under his skin, up to the softwhite wrapping fastened about his fire-scorched forehead. Even in thestarlight it was plainly visible to the girl's eager eyes. There wassomething else, too. The look in his eyes had completely changed. ToNan there was something approaching the shadow of a smile.
She moved close to his side so that she could reach out and give himsupport. Then she gave the father at her side his orders.
"Get water, Dad--quick!" she demanded.
Bud demurred.
"I only got my hat," he said helplessly.
"It'll do. But get it."
Bud moved away, with the heavy haste of two hundred and ten pounds ofmental disturbance.
The moment he had gone a faint sigh escaped the injured man. Nan heldher breath. Would he--speak? She would give worlds to hear the soundof his voice, She had believed him dying. Now a wild hope surged. Ifhe would--could speak, it seemed to her simple logic that he must--live.
"Nan!"
The word was distinct, but, oh, the weakness of voice. The girlthrilled.
"Yes, Jeff. I'm here. I'm right beside you."
"Tell me--things."
The girl's heart sank. In a flash she remembered all there was totell. Why had his first thoughts on returning life been ofthese--things? Yet it was like him--so like him. She drew a deepbreath and resorted to subterfuge.
"It's as Dad shouted at you just now, Jeff. You beat themall--lone-handed. But you mustn't talk. Don't worry about them.Guess they're not worth it. You've been shot up, Jeff, an' Dad an' Iwe've just fixed you the best we know, an' the boys have gone right infor a wagon, an' a doctor. The doc's got to get in from Moose Creek,twenty miles away. That's what scares me."
The smile in the man's eyes had deepened.
"Don't--get--scared, Nan. I'm--not dying."
The girl thrilled at the assurance in the tired voice. But the thrillpassed as swiftly as it came. She knew what would follow when Jeff hadgathered sufficient strength.
Sure enough he went on presently:
"I remember everything--till--I dropped," he said haltingly. "Whathappened--after--that? Y'see--I--heard--firing."
Nan glanced helplessly about her. If only her father would return withthe water! It might help her. She felt that she could not, could nottell him the things he was demanding of her.
But again came his demand, and in the tone of it was a sound of peevishimpatience.
"What--happened--after--Nan? I need--to know."
"It all came of a rush. I can't just tell it right."
The man's eyes closed again. He remained silent so long that Nan'sapprehensions reawakened. She even forgot her panic at his persistence.
"Jeff! Jeff!"
Her call to him was almost a whisper. But the man heard. His eyesopened at once.
"Yes, Nan?"
The girl laughed a little hysterically.
"I--I--was----"
"You thought I----"
"
Yes, yes. But you are--better? Sure?"
The man's head turned deliberately toward her. There was astonishingvigor in the movement.
"Ther's things broke inside me, Nan," he said, in a voice that wasgrowing stronger. "A rib, I guess. Maybe it's my shoulder. Theothers--guess they're just nothing. Now tell me--the things I asked.How did you happen to git around? Start that way."
A sense of relief helped the girl. He had given her an opportunitywhich she seized upon.
"Oh, Jeff, it was just thanks to Evie. I guess she saved your life."
"How?"
The girl's enthusiasm received a set-back in his tone.
"She came right along over to us, and told us--everything--the momentyou'd gone. We followed you just as hard as the horses could lay footto the ground. Dad an' me, and six of the boys."
"What did Evie do?"
"She came along--too."
"Wher' is she?"
Nan made no answer. The question was repeated more sharply.
"Wher' is she?"
"She's under that red willow--yonder."
The girl's voice was low. Her words were little more than a whisper.
"Is she--hurt?"
"She's--dead."
At that moment Bud reappeared bearing a hat full clear river water.
Nan looked up.
"How can we give it him?" she questioned. Somehow the importance ofthe water had lessened in her mind.
Jeff answered the question himself.
"I don't need it, Bud," he said. Then he added as an afterthought:"Thanks."
Nan looked up at her father who stood doubtfully by.
"Set it down, Daddy. Then get right along an' look out for the doc,an' the wagon. Hustle 'em along."
Bud obeyed unquestioningly. He felt that Nan's understanding of thesituation was better than any ideas of his. He set the hat down forthe water to percolate through the soft felt at its leisure. Then hemoved on.
The moment he was out of earshot Jeff's voice broke the silence oncemore.
"Nan?"
"Yes, Jeff?"
"Wher's the red willow? How far away?"
"A few yards."
"Can you help me up?" The question came after a long consideringpause. It came with a certain eagerness.
But Nan remonstrated with all her might.
"No, no, Jeff," she cried, in serious alarm. "You mustn't. True youmustn't. It'll kill you to move now."
Her appeal was quite without effect.
"Then I'll have to do it myself."
Jeff's obstinate decision was immovable, and in the end the girl wasforced to give way.
The sick man endured five minutes of the intensest agony in the effortrequired. Twice he nearly fainted, but, in the end, he stood besidethe somewhat huddled figure under the red willow, gasping under theexcruciation of internal pains.
"I can lie here, Nan," he said. "Will you--help me?"
Exerting all her strength the girl helped him to the ground. Theposition he had chosen was close to the still form of his dead wife.Once he was safely resting again, Nan breathed her relief.
He looked up at her, and something like a smile was in his blue eyes.
"Thanks, Nan. Say--I'll need that coat of yours--later. Will you goalong--and get it?"
Nan moved away. She needed no second bidding. Nor did she returnuntil the man's voice summoned her.
"Nan!" he called.
She came to him at once bearing her coat in her hands. For a second,surprise widened her eyes. He was no longer where she had left him.He had moved a few yards away. And she wondered how he had beencapable of the unassisted effort. Then she glanced swiftly at the deadwoman. The covering over the body had been moved. She was certain.It had been replaced differently from the way she had arranged it. Sheoffered no comment, but busied herself spreading her coat over theman's bared chest, where the rough bandages had been fastened with herfather's aid.
Again she seated herself on the ground beside him, but now his face wasturned from her. It was toward the still figure a few yards away.
"Tell me the rest now, Nan," he said. "She did her--best--to--save me."
"More than her best. Say, Jeff, she loved you better than life.That's why she's--there."
"Tell me."
A new note had crept into his demand. There was a hush in his voicewhich gave his words a curious tenderness, reverence even for the womanthey were speaking of.
"Guess it must have been over in a minute. Oh, say, it was just thebiggest, blindest, most tremendous thing. It was too awful. She wasso beautiful, too. And then the love in it. I kind of shiver when Ithink of it. We heard your shout, Jeff. Evie came right along withus. She insisted. You see, I'd made her mad. I'd blamed her to herface. I--I'm sorry now. But, my, she was brave, and how she lovedyou! Well, when Bud heard your shout I guess it didn't take him morethan a minute to beat in the door they'd fastened. Him an' the boys.The rest took seconds. We stood clear, as you said, guessing you meanta run for it. The place was ablaze. When the door fell we saw it all.You were near it. Beyond you were two men. Sikkem was one. They wereagainst the far wall, sideways from the door. They had guns in theirhands. They meant finishing you anyway, whatever happened after. Butthere was a bundle of blazing stuff in front of them, an' it seemed toworry them quite a deal. You started for the door. They got busy touse their guns right away. Then something happened. We'd forgot Evie.Guess we were plumb staggered. Something rushed past us, into thatblazing hut. It was Evie, an' she managed to get between you and themjust as you dropped. She fell where she stood. It was the shotsthey'd meant for you. Then Bud opened on 'em, the boys did too, andafter that we dragged you and Evie out. Oh, Jeff, she just didn't wantto live without you."
A great sob broke from the girl, and it found an echo deep down in theman's heart. Nan buried her face in her hands, and the sound of hersobs alone broke the stillness.
The man offered no comment. He made no movement. He lay there withhis clear eyes gazing at the silhouette of that still dark figureagainst the mysterious sheen of night. His look gave no key to histhoughts or emotions. His own physical sufferings even found noexpression in them. But thoughts were stirring, deep thoughts andemotions which were his alone, and would remain his alone until the end.