CHAPTER V
"I wish there was a shorter cut to get home," said the girl wearily."I'm just about tired. Climbing mountains is a little out of my line. Iwonder how long it will take to get used to it."
"There is a shorter way, Miss Hathaway," said one of the breed boys."It's through that sheep-ranch there. We always used to go that waybefore they fenced it in, but there's gates to it if we can find 'em."
"Let's go through that way, then, if it's shorter. Of course it isshorter--I can see that, and we'll trust to luck to be able to see thegates. I suppose they're wire gates."
"Yes, just regular wire gates, an' it's gettin' dark pretty blame fast,but mebbe we can find 'em all right."
So they followed the fence, searching in the dim light for the almostinvisible gate--the girl who had that day appointed herself commandingofficer and her three brave scouts.
Alongside the wire fence they followed a narrow cow-trail for nearly aquarter of a mile, then the path disappeared inside the field, and theside-hills along which they were obliged to travel were rough anddangerous. It was late, and darkness settled down around them, cuttingfrom their vision everything but a small line of fence and the nearbyhills.
They made slow headway over the rocky banks. Hope, tired with the day'sexploring and hungry after her long ride and the somewhat slender dietof the past week, was sorry they had not gone the road, which, thoughlonger, would not have taken such a length of time to travel. The boyswere good scouts, yet it became evident that they had never followed thenew line of fence before. Their horses slipped upon the sides of steepinclines which became more rocky and dangerous as they proceeded.Darkness increased rapidly. One horse in the rear fell down, but therider was upon his feet in an instant; then they dismounted and ledtheir horses, traveling along very slowly in Indian file. Some timelater they found the wire gate, much to the girl's relief. It was thenquite dark. The moon had risen, but showed itself fitfully behind black,stormy looking clouds. Without difficulty they discovered a trailleading somewhere, and followed it until they rounded a point from whichthey could see the light in the sheep-man's house.
"Why, we're almost up to his _house_!" exclaimed Hope. "This isn't theway. We don't want to go there!"
"I reckon we'll have to get pretty close up to it to find the road thatgoes to the other gate," said the soft-voiced twin.
"How foolish we've been," sighed the girl.
"Yep, a pack o' idiots," agreed Dave.
"But it's too dark for anyone to see us--or notice us," she said withrelief. "I think we might go right up to the house and look through thewindows without anyone seeing us."
"Let's do it," suggested Dave.
"Well I should say not!" exclaimed the girl. "It's the last thing onearth I would do--_peek_ into anyone's window! I am not so curious tosee the interior of _his_ house--or anyone's else."
"I'll bet they're just eatin' supper," said Ned hungrily.
"All the better," replied Hope; "there will be no one around to see usthen. I wonder how much closer we'll have to go?"
"Not much further," answered the soft-voiced twin wisely. "See, there'sthe barns, an' the road ain't a great ways off." He led the way, whileHope and the boy, Dave, followed close, and the youngest boy trailedalong somewhere in the rear. They passed between the stables and thehouse, then, aided by the fitful moon, found the road, along which theymade better time.
Hope felt a great relief as they began to leave the house in thedistance, though why, she could scarcely have explained. She said toherself that she was in a hurry to reach home, but as they neared thehuge, flat-roofed sheep-sheds she slowed up her horse, which had goneon ahead of the others, and glanced back at her approaching scouts. Thetwins came up with her, then she stopped and looked behind.
"Where's Ned?" she asked sharply, a sudden suspicion entering her head."What's keeping him?"
"He went up to the house to see what's goin' on," replied Dave. "I sawhim start for that way."
"How dared he do it! He will be seen and then what will they think! Wewill wait for him here." Then angrily to the boy: "If you knew he wasgoing to do that Indian trick why didn't you stop him?"
"I didn't know nothin' till I missed him," replied the boy.
"No, we didn't know he was goin', but when we saw he was gone for sureit wouldn't 'a' done no good to 'a' gone after him. Anyway, we wouldn't'a' left _you_ alone!" The soft-voiced twin was a genius at findingexplanations. He was never at a loss.
The girl recovered her temper instantly. "You did quite right, my bravescout," she cried. "I see you have learned the first and greatestprinciple of your vocation. _Never desert a lady, no matter what dangershe may be in._ But what a temptation it must have been to you to followhim and bring him back to me!" There is no doubt but that the sarcasmwas wasted upon the breed boys, who waited stolidly with her near somesheltering brush for the truant Ned, whose mischievousness had led himoff the trail.
At last he rode up with them, surprised out of breath to find them therewaiting for him. The girl took him by the sleeve. "You're a bad boy.Next time ask me when you have an inclination to do anything like that.Now give an account of yourself. What did you see?"
"I just wanted to see what they had to eat, so I peeked in," apologizedthe youngster. "There was two men eatin' their supper. The boss wasn'tthere. I heard old Morris tell another fellow that he was out helpin'put in the sheep."
"But here are the sheds, and surely there are no sheep here," sheexclaimed anxiously.
"They're keepin' 'em in the open corrals down the road a piece,"explained the soft-voiced twin. "They don't keep no sheep here in thesheds now."
The commanding officer breathed easier. "That's good; come on then," shesaid, riding ahead. They had not proceeded fifty yards when the lowtones of men's voices reached them. Simultaneously they stopped theirhorses and listened, but nothing save an indistinct murmur could beheard. One of the twins slipped from his horse and handed the bridlereins to the girl, then crept forward. In the darkness she could nottell which one it was, nor did she care. She was filled with excitementand the longing for adventure which the time and place aggravated. Hadthey not that day formed a band of secrecy--she and her three bravescouts? It occurred to her that it might be the sheep-man returning witha herder, but if so he had no right to stand at such a distance and talkin guarded tones. The very atmosphere of the place felt suspicious.They drew their horses to one side of the roadway, waiting in absolutesilence for the return of the scout. The voices reached themoccasionally from the opposite side of a clump of brush not a stone'sthrow away.
They waited several minutes, which seemed interminable, then a dark formappeared and a voice whispered softly: "Somethin's up! Let's get thehorses over by the fence so's they can't hear us." The twin led the way,taking a wide circuit about the spot from where the sound of voicescame. They reached the fence quickly without noise, securing theirhorses behind a screen of scrubby willows.
"Now, go on," said the girl. "What did you hear?"
"When I crawled up close I saw two men. One of 'em said, 'Shut up.You're makin' too much noise! Do you want 'em to hear you up to thehouse?' The other said he didn't give a damn, that they might just aswell make a good job of it an' kill off Livingston while they weregetting rid of his sheep. These two fellers have just come over toguard the road from the house to keep the men there from interferin',but the mob's down there at the corral waitin' to do the work. I foundthat much out an' then I sneaked back. I reckon they're goin' to drivethe sheep over the cut-bank."
"The devils!" cried Hope, under her breath. "They're going to pile upthe sheep and kill him if he interferes, are they? _We'll show them!_"
"We can't do anything," said the boy. "There's more'n a dozen men outthere at the corrals, an' it's darker'n pitch."
"So we'll just have to stand here and see that crime committed!" sheburst out. "No, not on your life! You boys have got to stand by me.Surely you're just as brave as a girl? We're going over there where wecan see
what's going on, and the first man that tries to drive a sheepout of that corral gets one of these!" She patted the barrel of herrifle as she pulled it from its saddle case. "Get your guns and comealong." But they were not far behind her in getting their weapons. Theolder boys had revolvers, and little Ned was armed with a Winchesterrepeating shotgun.
The twins were never seen without their guns, and had the reputation ofsleeping with them at night. For wildness those two boys were the terrorof the country. Their hearts sang a heathenish song of joy at this newadventure. Surely they were as brave as a girl! Her taunt rankled some.They would show her that they were not cowards! She had begun to worryalready!
"Oh, what if it should be too late! What if we should be too late! Oh,it can't be! Let's go faster!" she cried.
The breed boys crept along close to the ground, making altogether muchless noise than the girl, who seemed to think that speed and action wereall that was necessary.
"Sh! Keep quieter. You musn't let them know anyone's 'round. Thosefellers by the road 're just over there, an' they'll hear us," whisperedDan.
Then slower, more stealthily, they crept around the two men who guardedthe road, and with less caution approached the corrals, the girlmeanwhile recovering her composure to a great degree, though her heartstill beat wildly. The night seemed a trifle lighter now to herstraining eyes. What if the moon should come out, revealing them to themen waiting beyond the corrals? She grasped her rifle firmly, and herheart beat quicker at the thought. The soft-voiced twin must have feltthe same fear, for he came close and whispered in her ear: "The corralsain't more'n a rod, right over there. We'd better make a run for thatbush there on this side of it, for the moon's comin' out--see!" Hepointed upward. A rift had come in the black cloud from which the moonshone dimly, growing momentarily brighter. Before them the corral loomedup like a great flat patch of darkness, and to one side of this darkpatch something taller stood in dim relief--a small clump of brush,toward which the odd little scouting party ran in all haste. Safe withinits shelter, a fierce joy, savage in its intensity, filled the girl.
"Come on, Moon, come on in all your glory!" she whispered; then, as ifin answer to her command, it came in full splendor from behind its veilof black. It might have been a signal. Back in the hills a coyote calledweirdly to its mate, but before the last wailing note had died away asharp report sounded on the still air, followed by the groans of a manin mortal agony. Hope, upon her knees in the brush, clasped her hands toher throat to stifle a cry.
"Now drive his damn'd sheep into the gulch!" commanded a gruff voice.
Following the pain, a fierce light came into the girl's eyes. Overtightly closed teeth her lips parted dryly. Instinctively the breed boyscrept behind her, leaving her upon one knee before the heap of brush. Aman leaped into the corral among the stupid sheep, and as he leaped abullet passed through his hand.
"God, I'm killed!" he cried, as he sank limply out of sight among thesheep. For a few moments not a sound came except the occasional bleatingof a lamb, then the gate of the corral, which was ajar, opened as bysome invisible hand, and the great body of animals crowded slowly towardthe entrance.
"They think there's only one man here, and they're not going to bebluffed by one," whispered Hope. "See, they must be coaxing the leaderswith hay, and there's something going on back there that will make themstampede in a moment, and then the cut-bank! But we'll bluff them; makethem think there's a whole regiment here. There's four of us. Now getyour guns ready. Good; now when I start, all of you shoot at once asfast as you can load. Aim high in that direction. Shoot in the air, not_anywhere_ else. Now do as I tell you. Now, all together!" For two orthree minutes those four guns made music. The hills gathered up thenoise and flung it back, making the air ring with a deafening sound."Shoot up! Shoot higher, or you'll be hitting someone," she admonished,as dark forms began to rise from the ground beyond the corral and runaway.
"They're crawling away like whipped dogs," exclaimed a twin in glee."I'd like to shoot one for luck!"
"Shame on you," cried the girl softly. "That would be downright murderwhile they're running."
"I reckon there's been murder already to-night," said the soft-voicedtwin. Hope turned upon him fiercely: "That wasn't murder! I shot himthrough the hand. Murder? Do you call it murder to kill one of thosebeasts? You mean--you mean that they killed _him_! I forgot for aminute! Oh, it couldn't be that they killed _him_--Mr. Livingston! Areyou sure he wasn't up at the house, Ned? I must find out." She startedtoward the corral. Dave pulled her back roughly.
"See there! Those fellers that was on guard down there 're comin' back.They must have left their horses down by that rock. They'll ketch ussure!" She drew back into the brush again, waiting until the two men,whose voices first brought suspicion to their minds, had passed by,skirting the corral in diplomatic manner.
Hope, who had been so eager to search the scene of bloodshed, crept fromthe brush and took the opposite direction, followed closely by the breedboys. When they reached their horses she spoke:
"Now you boys go home. Go in from the back coulee and sneak into bed.Don't let anyone see you, whatever you do, for if this was ever foundout----" She waited for their imaginations to finish the sentence.
"We can sneak in all right," exclaimed Dave. "We know how to do that!They'll never find it out in ten years!"
"Then go at once. Ride fast by the Spring coulee and get there ahead ofthe men--if there should be any that belong there. I will come later. Ifthey ask, say that I'm in bed, or taking a walk, or anything that comesinto your head. But you won't be questioned. You mustn't be! Now hurryup!"
"But why won't you come along with us?" asked Dave.
"Because if we should be caught together they would know who did theshooting. If they see you alone they will not suspect you, and if theysee me alone they will never think of such a thing. It is the wisestway, besides I have other reasons. Now don't stand there all nighttalking to me, but go, unless you want to make trouble." She watchedthem until they were lost to sight, then mounted her horse and rode backover the road that she had come, straight up to the sheep-man's house.