CHAPTER V
BLAZING THE TRAIL
The day after the arrival of his outfit was a Sunday, and he did nounnecessary work. But on the Sunday afternoon he saddled one of theprairie ponies and rode along the trail to Fort Laramie. Here hepresented his licence to the agent of the Pony Express Company andasked to be engaged in the place of Jim Thurston, until Jim was able toresume his job.
Kiddie's name was prominent in the records, his reputation as anExpress rider was not forgotten, and his request was readily granted.
"You'll start on Jim's western section five o'clock in the mornin',"the agent intimated. "Thar's a dispatch--a very important Gov'mentdispatch--comin' along. I'm givin' you the responsibility of carryin'it to Drifting Smoke Crossing, where you'll transfer the mails to RogerPicknoll. You'll find relay ponies waitin' as per usual at the stagesalong the trail. And, say, you gotter be some keerful."
Kiddie smiled.
"D'you mean more'n ordinary careful?" he asked. "Isn't an Expressrider always careful?"
"You've hit it," nodded the agent. "I sure means more'n or'narykeerful. Not only because of the dispatch. Nobody excep' the Gov'mentkeers a red cent 'bout that docyment. But thar's a gang o' roadagents--robbers an' horse thieves--at work along thar. They're liablet' interfere with any rider, no matter who or what he may be, on thechance of findin' valu'bles about him. Attacked a innercent, peacefultraveller only last week, they did; robbed him, took his pony, an' lefthim lyin' gagged an' bound an' senseless."
"Any idea who they are?" Kiddie inquired. "What's their partic'lar wayof workin'?"
"By all accounts they got a many ways," said the agent. "I dunno justwhich report ter believe. One says they've the habit of disguisin'theirselves as Red Injuns, another holds as they goes foolin' around asor'nary cowboys, but wearin' face masks; an' another as they travels ina faked-up conveyance that strangers might mistake for a stage coach.But all agree that they're just desp'rate chara'ters all round. As towho they are, well, I dunno no more'n you. All I knows is that one o'the wust of the hull gang's a man named Nick Undrell."
"Nick Undrell?" Kiddie repeated the name as if it were new to him."Well, I guess Nick won't interfere with me any. Good evenin', boss.I shall be here on time. Don't worry."
He stabled his pony in the town, and, as the night was fine and it wasnot yet late, he strolled out on foot for a walk along the LittleLaramie River. At a distance of about a mile he entered a pine wood,made his way among the trees, and at length halted in front of acunningly hidden shanty. He stood listening and watching. He heardthe rattle of dice. There was a screened light in the window, but itwas hurriedly extinguished when he knocked.
After a long delay the door was cautiously opened by a man wearing amask. A strong smell of tobacco smoke and spirits came from within.
"Nick Undrell is here," said Kiddie, looking into the muzzle of arevolver held close to his face. "I heard his voice. Put aside thatgun and tell him to come to the door. Tell him it's Lord Saint Olave."
The masked man within the doorway scrutinized the unexpected andevidently unwelcome visitor, at whom he still held his menacingrevolver.
"Tell him it's Lord Saint Olave," Kiddie repeated in a level, insistentvoice.
At mention of this name the man slowly lowered his gun and drew back astep, opening the door a trifle wider.
"Lord Saint Olave?" he muttered in surprise. "Lord SaintOlave--here--at this time o' night! Wantin' ter see----" He removedthe black cloth mask that had hidden his face--"Wantin' ter see me?"
"Yes, Nick. That's why I'm here," returned Kiddie. "I want to see youkind of private. You've no occasion t' be alarmed. I'm not in thevigilance service, you know. Thought I'd just saunter along and have ajaw with you, that's all."
"Come right in, sir," said Nick, now holding the door wide open. "Igot a few friends here; but they was jus' quittin' when you knocked."
Kiddie followed him within the darkness. The light in the room wasthen turned up, and he saw four evil-looking men busily pulling offtheir masks, putting away their pistols, and sweeping their playingcards, dice-box, and a "pool" of coins and greenbacks from the table.
"The four o' you kin quit, soon's you likes," said Nick Undrell. "Hislordship an' me we've got a private pow-wow on hand, an' we don't wantno listeners mussin' around."
The men emptied their glasses, stood up, hitched their belts, and wentslowly past him and out at the door.
Kiddie knew them by sight. They had all been of Nick's gang in thedefence of the mule wagons. One still had a patch of sticking-plasteracross his cheek which Kiddie himself had put there over an arrowwound. When they were gone outside he turned to Nick.
"Any partic'lar reason why you and your convivial guests should hideyour countenances behind masks?" he inquired in a casual tone, glancingabout with curious calculation.
Nick Undrell did not answer this very pertinent question, and hisvisitor did not press him, but resumed, still casually--
"Can't say as this is quite a palatial residence for an industrious manthat's called successful. You used ter make good money at one time,Nick, when you worked along with Buckskin Jack; had a consid'rablebankin' account, too. This all you've got ter show for it?"
"Yep. All I possess in the world, barrin' my pony, is contained inthis yer shanty."
"What you done with that profitable ranch you had, back of Devil'sGate?"
"Lost it," Nick answered, as if a range of a hundred fertile acres withits herd of horses were a trifling article that had dropped through anunsuspected hole in his pocket. "Lost it."
"Just so," nodded Kiddie. "Gambled it away, I guess; staked the wholeproperty on the turn-up of a miserable queen of spades, and lost thelot."
"As a matter of fact," Nick smiled grimly, "it were th' ace of heartsas done me in. An' the skunk as won it offen me wasn't a white man,neither, but a greasy Injun. So now you know."
"Ah, Nick, you sure ain't the man you was in Buck's time; gamblin',drinkin', hidin' your guilty face behind a mask, afraid when a harmlessvisitor knocks at your door. What d'you suppose Buck would havethought of you? What d'you expect me myself to think?"
"Dunno," said Nick ashamedly. "Th' ain't many men along this yer traillike Buckskin Jack an' you, Kiddie. Thar's nobody ter lend a guidin'hand to a man that's anyways weak. If I'd had you or Buck ter blazethe trail for me I reckon I'd never have lost my way, same's I havedone. Savvy?"
"You c'd git back to the right trail even yet if you'd only gostraight," urged Kiddie.
Nick shrugged his broad shoulders.
"Say, what you got in the bag?" he inquired abruptly.
Kiddie had opened his haversack and taken from it a small canvaswallet, which he laid on the table in front of him. He also produced avery beautiful gold cigarette case.
"Have a smoke, Nick," he invited, opening the case and displaying acompact double row of very fine Turkish cigarettes with gold tips."These are a special brand. I never smoke myself; just carry these tergive away. Take!"
Nick Undrell glanced at them and shook his head.
"Them's just toy smokes," he objected. "Gimme some sensible, strongpipe terbacco an' I'll thank you; but I got no use fer aristocraticplaythings like them. What you got in th' bag?"
Kiddie afterwards had an important reason for remembering NickUndrell's contempt for cigarettes. Slipping the gold case into hisbreast pocket, he now took up the canvas wallet and opened it to takeout a substantial bundle of American bank notes.
"I've to pay you and your boys for the great help you gave me inguarding my outfit along the trail," he explained, speaking now in hischaracter of Lord St. Olave. "I don't forget that you risked yourlives and were in danger of losing them. I want to reward you allaccordingly."
"No occasion ter hurry 'bout the payment," said Nick, assuming an airof indifference. "Next week'll be time enough." He glanced down atthe bundle of greenbacks and gave a little gasp of envious surprise."Say," he obs
erved, "you got consid'rable confidence in folk's honestyto carry a heap o' dollars like that along o' you."
Kiddie met the man's cunningly covetous glance as he passed the wholebundle across to him.
"Guess that's considerably more'n you an' your gang of road-agentsfound on the harmless traveller you robbed on the trail last week andleft gagged and bound," he said pointedly.
"Eh?"
Nick clutched the notes and drew back. His hand went to his hip.
Kiddie seemed to have anticipated this movement, and he was quite readyfor it.
"Keep your hand away from your gun," he said quietly. "I'm coveringyou with mine, and I'm quicker than you. Listen! You see, I knowabout that affair. I was hoping that you'd be able to tell me you'd nohand in it. But now I know by your behaviour that you're guilty, thatyou were the ringleader of the despicable gang. I'm not accusin' you.I repeat that I'm not in the vigilance service; I'm not a policeman. Imay tell you, however, that I knew your evil reputation before Iengaged you to take charge of my outfit. I trusted you, Nick, and youdid not betray my trust. You acted straight--you and your menalike--and every cent of the amount I've just handed to you is welldeserved and honestly earned."
"You trusted me--you trusted the lot of us--knowin' we was low-downroosters that wouldn't think twice of killin' a man for the sake of hisgoods? That wasn't just wise, Kiddie. We might ha' bin springin' atrap on you. Why, the traveller you referred to--him as were leftsenseless on the trail--hadn't more'n the value of ten dollars on himall told. He'd only a nickel watch, his knife, a pistol as wouldn'tshoot, an' a broken-winded cayuse that was hardly worth taking away.And you gave us the chance to make off with the whole of your valu'bleoutfit! It wasn't wise. It wasn't safe."
"Then you guessed it was of value?" Kiddie questioned.
"Value? Well, I didn't on'y guess; I knew. We'd gotten word of itdays an' days 'fore it came along. So had the Redskins. But we didn'tcotton to the Injuns gettin' in front of us, see? We didn't have th'ambition of seein' Broken Feather collar the boodle."
"Eh?" Kiddie looked across with level, penetrating eyes. "In front ofyou? Then you admit that you had plans of your own?"
Nick Undrell was filling his pipe, ramming the tobacco in with nervousvigour.
"Don't make too sure, Lord Saint Olave," he retorted calmly. "Speakin'fer myself, I were ready to guard your property with me life, for thesake of who you are--the son of Buckskin Jack. An' when you comes up,trustin' me right down to the dust, an' requestin' me ter make up aarmed escort, well, I reckon I was plumb on the job, an' didn't lookfer no extravagant reward like this." He indicated the bundle of banknotes.
"But there were other plans," insisted Kiddie. "You'd planned to robme on your own account. Don't deny it. Be candid. I'm wantin' tounderstand your position and your character."
Nick stared at him, but could not bear for long the searchingexpression in Kiddie's clear eyes. He lowered his own.
"Thar's no bluffing a player like you, Kiddie," he said. "You'vecalled my hand. I gotter show up. You's correct. Thar was sureanother plan. But we wasn't figurin' t' attack you on the trail, sameas th' Injuns did--an' failed. We wasn't figurin' ter do no shootin'.Even allowin' as we'd attacked the wagons an' killed the drivers an'young Rube an'--an' you, it wouldn't ha' bin easy fer us t' carry awaythe goods. We couldn't have unloaded all them Saratoga trunks an' allthat household furniture on the open prairie without bein' dropped on.Your hosses, too, we couldn't ha' hidden 'em. We couldn't alter theircoats or their shape or action. They'd sure been observed an' admiredall along the back trail from Leavenworth to Laramie. Everybody wouldha' known 'em. No, it wasn't good enough."
"And so," rejoined Kiddie with a smile, "you decided to make a virtueof necessity, eh?"
Nick had lighted his pipe, and he took several thoughtful puffs at itbefore he answered.
"We decided ter delay operations. D'ye savee?"
"Yes, I see," nodded Kiddie. "You decided to wait until I had done theunpacking for you--until I'd got the valuables nice and handy for therobbery in the lonesome cabin that I'm building for myself in thewoods."
"That's about the size of it," acknowledged Nick. "An' now you'rewarned."
"Forewarned and forearmed," returned Kiddie. "I shall be prepared, youmay be sure. And you can expect a hot reception. A very hotreception, indeed."
Nick strode up to him, and tapped him on the shoulder with the wet stemof his pipe.
"Look 'ee here, Lord Saint Olave," he said steadily; "you ain't read myc'ara'ter true; not yet. You got a lot to learn 'fore you knows meproper. I ain't the low-down cur as you takes me for--not by a longchalk. I ain't beyond gettin' back on the right trail, if yer onlygives me time. Your comin' back here to the wilds has made a kinderdiff'rence t' me--a heap of diff'rence. D'ye savee?"
"I'm glad to hear it, Nick, my boy," said Kiddie. "And I quiteunderstand. You mean that because I'm back here to blaze a trail foryou, you'll give up gambling, you'll give up hard drinking, and you'llnever again molest harmless travellers or do thieving of any sort. Doyou promise all this, Nick? Eh? Straight, now, do you promise it? Iknow you'll keep your word, once you give it. You're a desperado, butI don't think you would break your word."
Nick Undrell pulled himself together.
"It's a steep proposition," he murmured. "But I guess I ain't nocoward. Yes, Kiddie," he answered resolutely. "I promise; I promisefaithful. You're blazin' the trail for me, an' I'm shapin' ter follerit true."