CHAPTER XXV
A SURPRISING SLIP
Scott was called by Lefever to conclude in secret the finalarrangements. The ground about the quaking asp grove, and nearest ElCapitan, afforded the best concealment close to the Gap. And to thispoint Scott was directed to bring what men he could before daybreakthe following morning.
"It's a short notice to get many men together--of the kind we want,"admitted Lefever. "You'll have to skirmish some between now andmidnight. What do you think you can do?"
Scott had already made up a tentative list. He named four: first,Farrell Kennedy, who was in town, and said nobody should go if hedidn't; Frank Elpaso, the Texan; the Englishman, Tommie Meggeson; andWickwire, if he could be located--any one of them, Lefever knew, couldgive an account of himself under all circumstances.
While Scott was getting his men together, de Spain, accompanied byLefever, was riding toward Music Mountain. Scott had urged on them butone parting caution--not to leave the aspens until rain beganfalling. When he spoke there was not a cloud in the sky. "It's goingto rain to-night, just the same," predicted Scott. "Don't leave thetrees till it gets going. Those Gap scouts will get under cover and behunting for a drink the minute it gets cold--I know them. You can rideright over their toes, if you'll be patient."
The sun set across the range in a drift of grayish-black, low-lyingclouds, which seemed only to await its disappearance to envelop themountains and empty their moisture on the desert. By the time de Spainand Lefever reached the end of their long ride a misty rain wasdrifting down from the west. The two men had just ridden into thequaking asps when a man coming out of the Gap almost rode into them.The intruders had halted and were sufficiently hidden to escapenotice, had not Lefever's horse indiscreetly coughed. The man from theGap reined up and called out. Lefever answered.
"It's Bull Page," declared de Spain, after the exchange of a fewwords, calling to Bull at the same time to come over to the shelter ofthe trees.
"What's going on in there, Bull?" asked de Spain after Bull had toldhim that Gale had driven him out, and he was heading for Calabasas.
"You tell," retorted Page. "Looks to me like old Duke's getting readyto die. Gale says he's going to draw his will to-night, and don'twant nobody around--got old Judge Druel in there."
De Spain pricked up his ears. "What's that, Druel?" he demanded. Bullrepeated his declaration. Lefever broke into violent language at theSleepy Cat jurist's expense, and ended by declaring that no willshould be drawn in the Gap that night by Duke Morgan or anybody else,unless he and Bull were made legatees.
Beyond this nothing could be learned from Bull, who was persuadedwithout difficulty by Lefever to abandon the idea of riding toCalabasas through the rain, and to spend the night with him in theneighborhood, wherever fancy, the rain, and the wind--which wasrising--should dictate.
While the two were talking de Spain tried to slip away, unobserved byLefever, on his errand. He failed, as he expected to, and after somefamiliar abuse, rode off alone, fortified by every possible suggestionat the hands of a man to whom the slightest precaution was usually ajoke.
Mountains never look blacker than when one rides into them consciousof the presence of enemies and alert for signs and sounds. But customdulls the edge of apprehension. De Spain rode slowly up the main roadwithout expecting to meet any one, and he reached the rise where thetrail forked to Duke's ranch unchallenged. Here he stopped his horseand looked down toward the roof that sheltered Nan. Night had falleneverywhere, and the increasing rain obscured even the outline of thehouse. But a light shone through one uncurtained window. He waitedsome time for a sound of life, for a door to open or close, or for thedog to bark--he heard nothing. Slipping out of the wet saddle, he ledhis horse in the darkness under the shelter of the lone pine-tree and,securing him, walked slowly toward the house.
The light came from a window in the living-room. Up-stairs and towardthe kitchen everything was dark. De Spain walked gingerly around towhere he could command the living-room window. He could see within,the figures of three men but, owing to the dim light and the distanceat which he stood, he could identify none of them with certainty.Mindful of the admonitions he had been loaded with, he tramped aroundthe house in narrowing circles, pausing at times to look and listen.In like manner he circled the barn and stables, until he had made surethere was no ambush and that he was alone outside. He then went amongthe horses and, working with a flash-light, found Nan's pony, a bridleand, after an ineffectual search for a saddle, led the bareback horseout to where his own stood. Walking over to Nan's window he signalledand called to her. Getting no answer, he tossed a bit of gravel upagainst her window. His signal met with no response and, caching hisrifle under the kitchen porch, he stepped around to the front of thehouse, where, screened by a bit of shrubbery, he could peer at closerange into the living-room.
Standing before the fire burning in the open hearth, and with his backto it, he now saw Gale Morgan. Sitting bolt upright beside the table,square-jawed and obdurate, his stubby brier pipe supported by his handand gripped in his great teeth, Duke Morgan looked uncompromisinglypast his belligerent nephew into the fire. A third and elderly man,heavy, red-faced, and almost toothless as he spoke, sat to the rightof the table in a rocking-chair, and looked at Duke; this was the oldlawyer and justice from Sleepy Cat, the sheriff's brother--JudgeDruel.
Nan was not to be seen. Gale, big and aggressive, was doing most ofthe talking, and energetically, as was his habit. Duke listenedthoughtfully, but seemingly with coldness. Druel looked from Gale toDuke, and appeared occasionally to put in a word to carry the argumentalong.
De Spain suspected nothing of what they were talking about, but he wasuneasy concerning Nan, and was not to be balked, by any combination,of his purpose of finding her. To secure information concerning herwas not possible, unless he should enter the house, and this, withscant hesitation, he decided to do.
He wore a snug-fitting leathern coat. He unbuttoned this and threw itopen as he stepped noiselessly up to the door. Laying his hand on theknob, he paused, then, finding the door unlocked, he pushed it slowlyopen.
The wind, rushing in, upset his calculations and blew open the doorleading from the hall into the living-room. A stream of light in turnshot through the open door, across the hall. Instantly de Spainstepped inside and directly behind the front door--which he nowrealized he dare not close--and stood expectant in the darkness. GaleMorgan, with an impatient exclamation, strode from the fireplace toclose the front door.
As he walked into the hall and slammed the front door shut, he couldhave touched with his hand the man standing in the shadow behind it.De Spain, not hoping to escape, stood with folded arms, but under theelbow of his left arm was hidden the long muzzle of his revolver.Holding his breath, he waited. Gale's mind was apparently filled withother things. He did not suspect the presence of an intruder, and hewalked back into the living-room, partly closing the second door. DeSpain, following almost on his heels, stepped past this door, past thehall stairs opposite it, and through a curtained opening at the end ofthe hall into the dining-room. Barely ten feet from him, this roomopened through an arch into the living-room, and where he stood hecould hear all that was said.
"Who's there?" demanded Duke gruffly.
"Nobody," said Gale. "Go on, Druel."
"That door never opened itself," persisted Duke.
"The wind blew it open," said Gale impatiently.
"I tell y' it didn't," responded Duke sternly; "somebody came inthere, or went out. Maybe she's slipped y'."
"Go up-stairs and see," bellowed Gale at his uncle.
Duke walked slowly out into the hall and, with some difficulty, owingto his injured back, up the stairs. A curtain hung beside the archwhere de Spain stood, and this he now drew around him. Gale walkedinto the hall again, searched it, and waited at the foot of thestairs. De Spain could hear Duke's rough voice up-stairs, but couldneither distinguish his words nor hear any response to them. Within amoment the elder man tramped h
eavily down again, saying only, "She'sthere," and, followed by Gale, returned to the living-room.
"Now go on, Druel," exclaimed Gale, sitting down impatiently, "andtalk quick."
Druel talked softly and through his nose: "I was only going to say itwould be a good idea to have two witnesses."
"Nita," suggested Gale.
Duke was profane. "You couldn't keep the girl in the room if she hadNita to help her. And I want it understood, Gale, between you and me,fair and square, that Nan's goin' to live right here with me afterthis marriage till I'm satisfied she's willing to go to you--otherwiseit can't take place, now nor never."
De Spain opened his ears. Gale felt the hard, cold tone of his crustyrelative, and answered with like harshness: "What do you keep harpingon that for? You've got my word. All I want of you is to keepyours--understand?"
"Come, come," interposed Druel. "There's no need of hard words. But weneed two witnesses. Who's going to be the other witness?"
Before any one could answer de Spain stepped out into the open archwaybefore the three men. "I'll act as the second witness," he said.
With a common roar the Morgans bounded to their feet. They were notunused to sudden onslaughts, nor was either of them a man to shrinkfrom a fight at short quarters, if it came to that, but blankastonishment overwhelmed both. De Spain, standing slightly sidewise,his coat lapels flapped wide open, his arms akimbo, and his hands onhis hips, faced the three in an attitude of readiness only. He hadreckoned on the instant of indecision which at times, when coupledwith apprehension, paralyzes the will of two men acting together.Under the circumstances either of the Morgans alone would have whippeda gun on de Spain at sight. Together, and knowing that to do so meantdeath to the one that took the first shot from the archway, eachwaited for the other; that fraction of a second unsettled theirpurpose. Instead of bullets, each launched curses at the intruder, andevery second that passed led away from a fight.
De Spain took their oaths, demands, and abuse without batting an eye."I'm here for the second witness," was all he repeated, covering bothmen with short glances. Druel, his face muddily white as the whiskeybloat deserted it, shrunk inside his shabby clothes. He seemed, everytime de Spain darted a look at him, to grow visibly smaller, until hisloose bulk had shrivelled inside an armchair hardly large enoughnormally to contain it.
De Spain with each epithet hurled at him took a dreaded forward steptoward Gale, and Druel, in the line of fire, brought his knees up andhis head down till he curled like a porcupine. Gale, game as heundoubtedly was, cornered, felt perhaps recollections of Calabasas andclose quarters with the brown eyes and the burning face. What theymight mean in this little room, which de Spain was crossing step bystep, was food for thought. Nor did de Spain break his obstinatesilence until their burst of rage had blown. "You've arranged yourmarriage," he said at length. "Now pull it."
"My cousin's ready to marry me, and she's goin' to do it to-night,"cried Gale violently.
Duke, towering with rage, looked at de Spain and pointed to the halldoor. "You hear that! Get out of my house!" he cried, launching avicious epithet with the words.
"This isn't your house," retorted de Spain angrily. "This house isNan's, not yours. When she orders me out I'll go. Bring her down," hethundered, raising his voice to shut off Duke, who had redoubled hisabuse. "Bring her into this room," he repeated. "We'll see whether shewants to get married. If she does, I'll marry her. If she doesn't, andyou've been putting this up to force her into marrying, so help meGod, you'll be carried out of this room to-night, or I will." Hewhirled on her uncle with an accusing finger. "You used to be a man,Duke. I've taken from you here to-night what I would take from no manon earth but for the sake of Nan Morgan. She asked me never to touchyou. But if you've gone into this thing to trap your own flesh andblood, your dead brother's girl, living under your own protection, youdon't deserve mercy, and to-night you shall have what's coming to you.I've fought you both fair, too fair. Now--before I leave--it's my girlor both of you."
He was standing near Druel. Without taking his eyes off the other men,he caught Druel with his left hand by the coat collar, and threw himhalf-way across the room. "Get up-stairs, you old carrion, and tellNan Morgan, Henry de Spain is here to talk to her."
Druel, frightened to death, scrambled into the hall. He turned on deSpain. "I'm an officer of the law. I arrest you for trespass andassault," he shouted, shaking with fear.
"Arrest _me_?" echoed de Spain contemptuously. "You scoundrel, if youdon't climb those stairs I'll send you to the penitentiary the day Iget back to town. Up-stairs with your message!"
"It isn't necessary," said a low voice in the hall, and with the wordsNan appeared in the open doorway. Her face was white, but there wasno sign of haste or panic in it; de Spain choked back a breath; to himshe never had looked in her silence so awe-inspiring.
He addressed her, holding his left hand out with his plea. "Nan," hesaid, controlling his voice, "these men were getting ready to marryyou to Gale Morgan. No matter how you feel toward me now, you know mewell enough to know that all I want is the truth: Was this with yourconsent?"
She stepped into the line of fire between her cousin and de Spain asshe answered. "No. You know I shall never marry any man but you. Thisvile bully," she turned a little to look at her angry cousin, "hasinfluenced Uncle Duke--who never before tried to persecute or betrayme--into joining him in this thing. They never could have dragged meinto it alive. And they've kept me locked for three days in a roomup-stairs, hoping to break me down."
"Stand back, Nan."
If de Spain's words of warning struck her with terror of a situationshe could not control, she did not reveal it. "No," she saidresolutely. "If anybody here is to be shot, I'll be first. Uncle Duke,you have always protected me from Gale Morgan; now you join hands withhim. You drive me from this roof because I don't know how I canprotect myself under it."
Gale looked steadily at her. "You promised to marry me," he mutteredtruculently. "I'll find a way to make you keep your word."
A loud knocking interrupted him, and, without waiting to be admitted,Pardaloe, the cowboy, opened the front door and stalked boldly in fromthe hall.
If the situation in the room surprised him he gave no evidence of it.And as he walked in Nan disappeared. Pardaloe was drenched with rain,and, taking off his hat as he crossed the room to the fire, he shookit hard into the blazing wood.
"What do you want, Pardaloe?" snapped Duke.
Pardaloe shook his hat once more and turned a few steps so that hestood between the uncurtained window and the light. "The creek's up,"he said to Duke in his peculiarly slow, steady tone. "Some of Satt'sboys are trying to get the cattle out of the lower corral." Hefingered his hat, looked first at Duke, then at Gale, then at deSpain. "Guess they'll need a little help, so I asked Sassoon to comeover--" Pardaloe jerked his head indicatively toward the front. "He'soutside with some of the boys now."
"Tell Sassoon to come in here!" thundered Gale.
De Spain's left arm shot out. "Hold on, Pardaloe; pull down thatcurtain behind you!"
"Don't touch that curtain, Pardaloe!" shouted Gale Morgan.
"Pardaloe," said de Spain, his left arm pointing menacingly andwalking instantly toward him, "pull that curtain or pull your gun,quick." At that moment Nan, in hat and coat, reappeared in the archwaybehind de Spain. Pardaloe jerked down the curtain and started for thedoor. De Spain had backed up again. "Stop, Pardaloe," he called. "Mymen are outside that door. Stand where you are," he ordered, stillenforcing his commands with his right hand covering the holster at hiship. "I leave this room first. Nan, are you ready?" he asked, withoutlooking at her.
"Yes."
Her uncle's face whitened. "Don't leave this house to-night, Nan," hesaid menacingly.
"You've forced me to, Uncle Duke."
"Don't leave this house to-night."
"I can't protect myself in it."
"Don't leave this house--most of all, with that man!" He pointed at deSpain with a
frenzy of hatred. Without answering, the two wereretreating into the semidarkness of the dining-room. "Nan," came heruncle's voice, hoarse with feeling, "you're saying good-by to meforever."
"No, uncle," she cried. "I am only doing what I have to do."
"I tell you I don't want to drive you from this roof, girl."
A rush of wind from an opening door was the only answer from the darkdining-room. The two Morgans started forward together. The sudden gustsucked the flame of the living-room lamp up into the chimney and aftera brief, sharp struggle extinguished it. In the confusion it was amoment before a match could be found. When the lamp was relighted theMorgans ran into the dining-room. The wind and rain poured in throughthe open north door. But the room was empty.
Duke turned on his nephew with a choking curse. "This," he cried,beside himself with fury, "is your work!"