CHAPTER IX.
THE STRANGER'S WARNING.
That one festive night decided the immediate future of 'Tana. All her joyin it did not prevent a decision that it should be the last in herexperience, for a year to come, at least.
It was Lyster who broached the subject, and Overton looked at him closelywhile he talked.
"You are right," he decided, at last; "a school is the easiest path out ofthis jungle, I reckon. I thought of a school, but didn't know where--I'mnot posted on such things. But if you know the trail to a good one, we'llfix it. She has no family folks at all, so--"
"I'd like to ask, if it's allowable--"
"Don't ask me about her people," said the other, quickly; "she wouldn'twant me to talk of them. You see, Max, all sorts get caught in whirlpoolsof one sort or another, when ventures are made in a new country like this,and often it's a thoroughbred that goes under first, while a lot of scrubstock will pull through an epidemic and never miss a feed. Well, her folksbelonged to the list that has gone under--speculating people, you know,who left her stranded when they started 'over the range,' and she'ssensitive about it--has a sort of pride, too, and doesn't want to bepitied, I guess. Anyway, I've promised she sha'n't be followed by anyreminder of her misfortunes, and I can't go into details."
"Oh, that's all right; I'm not curious to know whether her folks had apalace or a cabin to live in. But she has brightness. I like her wellenough to give up some useless pastimes that are expensive, and contributethe results to a school fund for her, if you say yes. But I should like toknow if her people belonged to the class we call ladies andgentlemen--that is all."
Overton did not answer at once. His eyes were turned toward his bandagedarm, and a little wrinkle grew between his brows.
"The man is dead, and I don't think there's anything for me to say as tohis gentlemanly qualities," he said at last. "He was a prospector andspeculator, with an equal amount of vice and virtue in him, I suppose;just about like the rest of us. Her mother I never saw, but have reason tothink she was a lady."
"And you say every word of that as if they were drawn from you withforceps," said Lyster, cheerily. "Well, I'll not bother you about itagain. But, you see, there is a cousin of mine at the school I spoke of,and I wanted to know because of that. It's all right, though; my owninstincts would tell me she came of good stock. But even good stock willgrow wild, you know, if it doesn't get the right sort of training. Youknow, old fellow, I'm downright in earnest about wanting to help you abouther."
"Yes, I know. You have, too," said the other. "You've pointed out theschool and all, and we see she can't be left here."
"Not when you are ranging around the hills, and never a man to take yourplace as a guard," agreed Lyster. "I feel about two years old ever since Iheard of how you kept annoyances from us last night while we were soserenely unconscious of your trials. 'Tana will scarcely look at me thismorning, for no reason but that I did not divine the state of affairs andgo to help you. That girl has picked up so much queer knowledge herselfthat she expects every one to be gifted with second sight."
Then he told, with a good deal of amusement, the episode of the poker gameand the discomfiture of the captain.
Overton said little. He was not so much shocked or vexed over it as Lysterhad been, because he had lived more among people to whom such pastimeswere not unusual.
"And I offered to teach her 'seven-up,' because it was easy," he remarkedgrimly. "Yes, the school is best. You see, even if I am on the ground, I'mnot a fit guardian. Didn't I give her leave to get square with the oldman? While, if I'd been the right sort of a guardian, she would have beengiven a moral lecture on the sinfulness of revenge. I guess we'd betterbegin to talk school right away."
"I imagine she'll object at first, through force of habit, and protestthat she knows enough for one girl."
But she did not. She listened with wonder in her eyes, and something ofshamed contrition in her face, and knew so well--so very well that she didnot deserve it. She had wanted--really wanted to vex him when she playedthe cards, when she had danced past, and never let on she saw him lookingsomberly in at the window the night before. But in the light of morningand with the knowledge of his wounded arm, all her resentment was gone.She could scarcely speak even the words she meant to say.
"I can't do that--go, I mean. It will cost so much, and I have no money.I can't make any here, and--and you are not rich enough to lend it to me,even if I could pay it back some day, so--"
"Never mind about the money; it will be got. I'm to start up north of thissoon, and this doesn't seem a good place to school you in, anyway. So, fora year or so, you go to that school down in Helena. Max knows the name ofit; I forget. When you get all rigged out with an education, and have acapital of knowledge, you can talk then about the money and paying it, ifit makes you feel more comfortable. But just now you be a good littlegirl; go down there with Max to the school, study hard, so that if I dropinto a chasm some night, or am picked off by a bullet, you'll havelearned, anyway, how to look after yourself in the right way."
"Oh, it's Mr. Max, then, that's planning this, is it?" she asked suddenly,and her face flushed a little--he must have thought in anger, for hesaid:
"Why--yes; that is--mostly. You see, 'Tana, I've drifted out from the waysof the world while Max has kept up with them. So he proposed--well, nomatter about the plan. I'm to suggest it to you, and as it's no loss andall gain to you, I reckon you'll be sensible enough to say yes."
"I will," she answered, quietly; "it is very kind of you both to be sogood to me, for I haven't been good to you--to either of you, I'msorry--I--maybe I'll be better when I come back--and--maybe I can pay yousome day."
"Me? Oh, you won't owe me anything, and I reckon you'd better not makeplans about coming back here! The books and things you learn will likelyturn you toward other places--finer places. This is all right for menwho have money to make; but you--"
"I'm coming back here," she said, nodding her head emphatically. "Maybenot for always--but I'll come back some time--I will."
She was twisting her fingers in a nervous way, and, as he watched her, henoticed that her little brown hands were devoid of all ornament.
"Where is the ring?" he asked. "Have you lost it already?"
"No, it's here--in my pocket," and she drew it out that he might see."I--I took it off this morning when I saw you were shot. You'll laugh, Isuppose; but I thought the snakes brought bad luck."
"So you are superstitious?"
"Oh, I don't know! I'm not afraid very often; but sometimes I think thereare signs that are true. I've heard old folks say so, and talk of thingsunlucky. I took the ring off when I saw your arm."
"But the arm was only scratched--not worth a thought from a little girllike you," he said; "and surely not worth throwing off your jewelry for.But some day--some day of good luck, I may find you a prettier ring--onemore like a girl's ring, you know; one you can wear and not be afraid."
"If I'm afraid, it isn't for myself," she said, with that old, unchildlikelook he had not seen in her eyes of late. "But I'll tell you what I'mafraid of. Have you ever heard of people who were 'hoodoos'? I guess youhave. Well, sometimes I'm afraid I'm just that--like the snakes in thatring. I'm afraid I bring bad luck to people--people I like. It isn't theharm to me that ever frightens me. I guess I can fight that; but no onecan fight a 'hoodoo,' I guess; and your arm--"
"Oh, see here! Wake up, 'Tana, you're dreaming! Who put that cussednonsense into your head? 'Hoodoo!' Pshaw! I will have patience with you inanything but that. Did any one look at you last night as if you were a'hoodoo'? Here comes Max; we'll ask him."
But she did not smile at their badinage.
"I was in earnest, and you think it only funny," she said. "Well, maybeyou won't always laugh at it. Men who know a heap believe in 'hoodoos.'"
"But not 'hoodoos' possessed of the _tout ensemble_ of Miss Rivers,"objected Lyster. "You are simply trying to scare us--me, out of thejourney I hoped to make with you to
Helena. You are trying to evade a yearof scholastic training we have planned for you, and you would like toprophesy that the boat will blow up or the cars run off the track if youembark. But it won't. You will say good-by to your ogre of a guardianto-morrow. You will be guarded by no less a personage than my immaculateself to the door of your academy; from which you will emerge, later on,with never a memory of 'hoodoos' in your wise brain; and you will live toa green old age and make clay busts of us both when we are gray haired.There! I think I'm a good healthy sort of a prophet; and as a reward willyou go with me to-morrow?"
"With you? Then it is you who--"
"Who has planned the whole brilliant scheme? Exactly--the journey part ofit at all events; and I'm not so modest as our friend here. I'll take theblame of my share, and his, too, if he doesn't speak up for himself.Here comes your new friend, Dan. Where did you pick him up?"
It was the man Harris, and beside him was the captain. They were talkingwith some animation of late Indian raids to the westward.
"I doubt if it was Indians at all who did the thieving," remarked Harris;"there are always a lot of scrub whites ready to take advantage of warsignals, and do devilment of that sort, made up as reds."
"Oh, yes--some say so! That man Holly used to get the credit of that sortof renegade work. Handsome Holly he was called once. But now that he'sdead, maybe we'll see he was not the only one to work mischief between thewhites and reds."
"Holly? Lee Holly?" asked Lyster. "Why, didn't we hear a rumor that hewasn't dead at all, but had been seen somewhere near Butte?"
"I didn't," returned Overton, who was the one addressed, "though it may beso. He's a very slippery specimen and full of schemes, from what I hear.But he doesn't seem to range over this territory, so I've never run acrosshim. It would be like him, though, to play dead when the Government mengrew warm on his trail, and he'd no doubt get plenty of help from hisIndian allies."
Harris was watching him keenly, and the careless honesty of the speaker'sface and tone evidently perplexed him, for he turned with a baffled lookto the girl, who stood with down-dropped eyes, and twisted a spray ofleaves nervously around her fingers. He noticed one quick, troubled glanceshe gave Overton, but even to his suspicious eyes it did not seem a regardgiven a fellow-conspirator.
"I believe it was the doctor I heard speak of the rumor that Holly was yetabove ground," said Lyster. "The mail came up yesterday, and perhaps hefound it in the papers. Don't think I had heard of the man before. Is heone of the important people up here?"
"Rather," remarked Overton, "an accomplished crook who has dabbled inseveral trades in the Columbia River region. The latest was a wholesalehorse steal from a ranch over in Washington--Indian work, with him asleader. The regulars from the fort got after them, there was an uglyfight, and the reds reported Holly as killed. That is the last I heard ofhim. You were asking me yesterday if he ever prospected in our valley,didn't you?" he asked, turning to Harris.
"A man made undue importance of by the stupid Indians," declared CaptainLeek. "He humored their superstitions and played medicine man with them,I've heard; and he had a boy for a partner--a young slip the gamblerscalled 'Monte' down in Coeur d'Alene. Some said it was his son."
"A fine instructor for youth," observed Lyster. "Who could expect anythingbut vice from a man who had such a boyhood?"
"But you would," said 'Tana, suddenly, "if you knew that boy when he grewto be a man. If he was bad, you'd want him to get off the earth where youwalked; and you never once would stop to ask if he was brought up right ornot--you know you wouldn't--nobody does, I guess. I don't know why it is,but it seems all wrong to me. Maybe, though, when I go to school, andlearn things, I will think like the rest, and not care."
Lyster shrugged his shoulders and looked after her as she vanished intothe regions where Mrs. Huzzard was concocting dishes for the mid-daymeal.
"I doubt if she thinks like the rest," he remarked. "How fiery she is, andhow independent in her views of things."
But Overton smiled at her curt speech.
"Poor 'Tana has lived among rough scenes until she learns to judgequickly, and for herself," he said. "Her words are true enough, too; shemay have known just such boys as Holly's clever little partner and seenhow hard it was for them to be any good. I wonder now what has become ofyoung 'Monte' since Holly disappeared. He would be a good one to follow,if there is doubt as to Holly's death being a fact. I believe there was areward out for him some time ago, to stimulate lagging justice. Don't knowif it's withdrawn or not."
"Square," decided Harris, in silent communion with himself, as he surveyedOverton; "dead square, and don't scent the trail. I'd like to know whattheir little game is with him. Some devilment, sure."
On one pretext and another he kept close to Overton. He was studying thestalwart, easy-going keeper of the peace, and Dan, who had a sort ofcompassion for all who were halt, or blind, or homeless, took kindlyenough to the semi-paralyzed stranger. Harris seemed to belong nowhere inparticular, yet knew each trail of the Kootenai and Columbia country, kneweach drift where the yellow sands were found--each mine where the silverhunt paid best returns.
"You've prospected some, I see, even if you don't get over the ground veryfast," Dan remarked; "and with it all, I reckon you've staked out some payclaims for yourself?"
The face of Harris contracted in a swift frown; he drew a long breath, andhis clasped hands tightened on each other.
"I did," he said, in a choked, nervous sort of way; "I did. If I couldtell you of it, I would. You're the sort of man I'd--But never mind. I'mnot well yet--not strong enough to get excited over it. I've got to takethings easy for a spell, or another stroke of this paralysis will come asmy share. That handicaps me considerable. I was--was upset by somethingunexpected last night, and I've had a queer, shaky feeling ever since;can't articulate clear. Did you notice? The--the only thing under God'sheaven I'm afraid of is that paralysis--that it will catch me again beforeI get my work done; and to-day--"
"Don't talk of it," advised Overton, as he noticed how the man's voicehesitated and trembled, how excitable he was over the subject of hismineral finds and his threatened helplessness. "Don't think of it, andyou'll come out all right yet. If I can do anything for you--"
The other man laughed in a spasmodic, contemptuous fashion.
"For me?" he said. "You can't. I thought you could, but I was on a blindtrail--you can't. I can give you a lift, though--yes, I can. It'sabout--about that girl. You--you tried to guard her last night, as if shewas a flower the rough wind must not blow on. I know--I watched you. I'vebeen there, and know."
"Know what? You're an infernal fool!" burst out Dan, with all his goodnature out of sight. "No hints about the girl, or--or anything else! Iwon't have it!"
"It's no hint; facts are all I'd mention to you, and I'd do that justbecause I think you're square. And they--they are playing you. See? Forhe ain't dead. I don't know what their game is with you, but he ain'tdead; and there--there's no telling what scheme he's got her intothis--this territory for. So I want you to know. I don't want you to becaught in any trap of theirs. She--she looks all right; but he's adevil--a thing infernal--a--"
Overton caught him by one arm, and swung him around like a child.
"Speak clear. No more of your blasted stuttering or beating away frompoints; who is the man you talk of? Who is playing with me? Now speak."
"Why, Monte, the girl; Monte and Lee Holly. He's somewhere alive--that'swhat I'm trying to tell you. I was hunting for him when I found her layinglow here, don't you understand? You stare so. It is Lee Holly and--Ah--my--God!"
The last words were gurgled in his throat; his face whitened, and he sankto the ground as though his bones had suddenly been converted intojelly--a strange, shapeless heap of humanity as he lay at Overton's feet.Overton bent over him, and after a moment of blank amaze, lifted thehelpless head, and almost dropped it again, when the eyes, appealing andkeenly conscious, met his own. There was a queer chuckling sound in theman's thro
at; he was trying to speak, but could not. The secret he wastrying to tell was buried back of those speechless lips, and one morestroke of the doom he feared had overtaken him.