"With Mr. Wilton," there was the slightest emphasis on the words, "to accompany the party, I shouldn"t think it would be necessary for me to go."
"It is either you or I," said Mrs. Knapp.
"You will be needed to protect Mr. Horton," said I sarcastically.
"Oh, what a task!" she said gaily. "I shall be ready." And she turned away before I could put in another word, and I walked down the room with Mrs. Knapp.
"And so Mr. Knapp is coming home to-morrow?" I said.
Mrs. Knapp gave me a quick look.
"Yes," she said. There was something in her tone that set me to thinking that there was more than I knew behind Mr. Knapp"s sudden return.
"I hope he is not ill," I said politely.
Mrs. Knapp appeared to be considering some point deeply, and did not answer for a little. Then she shook her head as though the idea was not to her liking.
"I think you will find him all right when you see him. But here--you must meet Mr. and Mrs. Carter. They are just from the East, and very charming people, and as you are to do them the honors on Monday evening, you should know them."
Mr. and Mrs. Carter had pleasant faces and few ideas, and as the conversational fire soon burned low I sought Mrs. Knapp and took my leave. Luella was nowhere to be seen.
"You must be sure that you are well-guarded," said Mrs. Knapp. "It quite gives me the terrors to think of those murderous fellows. And since you told me of that last plot to call you down to Borton"s, I have a presentiment that some special danger is ahead of you. Be cautious as well as brave."
She had followed me into the hall, and spoke her warning freely. There was a sadness in her eyes that seemed as though she would dissuade me from my task.
I thanked her as she pressed my hand, and, with no Luella awaiting me by the stair, I took my way down the stone steps, between the bronze lions, and joined Porter and Barkhouse on the sidewalk.
CHAPTER XVI
AN ECHO OF WARNING
"All quiet?" I asked of my guards, as we took our way down the street.
"All quiet," said Porter.
"You"d better tell him," said Barkhouse.
"Oh, yes," said Porter, as if in sudden recollection. "d.i.c.ky Nahl was along here, and he said Terrill and Meeker and the other gang was holding a powwow at Borton"s, and we"d best look out for surprises."
"Was that all?"
"Well, he said he guessed there was a new deal on hand, and they was a-buzzin" like a nest of hornets. It was hornets, wasn"t it, Bob?"
"Hornets was what he said," repeated Barkhouse stolidly.
"Where"s d.i.c.ky now?" I asked.
"I ain"t good at guessing," said Porter, "and Bob"s nothing at all at it."
"Well," said I, "we had better go down to Borton"s and look into this matter."
There was silence for a time. My guards walked beside me without speaking, but I felt the protest in their manner. At last Barkhouse said respectfully:
"There"s no use to do that, sir. You"d better send some one that ain"t so likely to be nabbed, or that won"t matter much if he is. We"d be in a pretty fix if you was to be took."
"Here comes d.i.c.ky, now," said Porter, as a dark figure came swinging lightly along.
"Hullo!" cried d.i.c.ky, halting and shading his eyes from the gaslight. "I was just going up to look for you again."
"What"s up, d.i.c.ky?"
"I guess it"s the devil," said d.i.c.ky, so gravely that I broke into a laugh.
"He"s right at home if he"s come to this town," I said.
"I"m glad you find it so funny," said d.i.c.ky in an injured tone. "You was scared enough last time."
I had put my foot in it, sure enough. I might have guessed that the devil was not his Satanic Majesty but some evil-minded person in the flesh whom I had to fear.
"Can it be Doddridge Knapp?" flashed across my mind but I dismissed the suspicion as without foundation. I spoke aloud:
"Well, I"ve kept out of his claws this far, and it"s no use to worry.
What"s he trying to do now?"
"That"s what I"ve been trying to find out all the evening. They"re noisy enough, but they"re too thick to let one get near where there"s anything going on--that is, if he has a fancy for keeping a whole skin."
"Suppose we go down there now," I suggested. "We might find out something."
d.i.c.ky stopped short.
"Caesar"s ghost!" he gasped; "what next? Wouldn"t you like to touch off a few powder-kegs for amus.e.m.e.nt? Won"t you fire a pistol into your mouth to show how easy you can stop the bullet?"
"Why, you have been down there and are all right," I argued.
"Well, there"s nothing much to happen to me, but where would you be if they got hold of you? You"re getting off your _cabesa_, old fellow,"
said d.i.c.ky anxiously.
"If I could see Mother Borton I could fix it," I said confidently.
"What! That she-devil?" cried d.i.c.ky. "She"d give you up to have your throat cut in a minute if she could get a four-bit piece for your carca.s.s. I guess she could get more than that on you, too."
Mother Borton"s warnings against d.i.c.ky Nahl returned to me with force at this expression of esteem from the young man, and I was filled with doubts.
"I came up to tell you to look out for yourself," continued d.i.c.ky. "I"m afraid they mean mischief, and here you come with a wild scheme for getting into the thick of it."