He leaned forward, half kneeling at her feet, and she permitted him to clasp her hand within both his own. "Tell me, at least, this--is it some one else? Is it Hampton?"
She smiled at him through a mist of tears, a smile the sad sweetness of which he would never forget. "In the sense you mean, no. No living man stands between us, not even Bob Hampton."
"Does he know why this cannot be?"
"He does know, but I doubt if he will ever reveal his knowledge; certainly not to you. He has not told me all, even in the hour when he thought himself dying. I am convinced of that. It is not because he dislikes you, Lieutenant Brant, but because he knew his partial revealment of the truth was a duty he owed us both."
There was a long, painful pause between them, during which neither ventured to look directly at the other.
"You leave me so completely in the dark," he said, finally; "is there no possibility that this mysterious obstacle can ever be removed?"
"None. It is beyond earthly power--there lies between us the shadow of a dead man."
He stared at her as if doubting her sanity.
"A dead man! Not Gillis?"
"No, it is not Gillis. I have told you this much so that you might comprehend how impossible it is for us to change our fate. It is irrevocably fixed. Please do not question me any more; cannot you see how I am suffering? I beseech your pity; I beg you not to prolong this useless interview. I cannot bear it!"
Brant rose to his feet, and stood looking down upon her bowed head, her slender figure shaken by sobs. Whatever it might prove to be, this mysterious shadow of a dead man, there could be no doubting what it now meant to her. His eyes were filled with a love unutterable.
"Naida, as you have asked it, I will go; but I go better, stronger, because I have heard your lips say you love me. I am going now, my sweetheart, but if I live, I shall come again. I know nothing of what you mean about a dead man being between us, but I shall know when I come back, for, dead or alive, no man shall remain between me and the girl I love."
"This--this is different," she sobbed, "different; it is beyond your power."
"I shall never believe so until I have faced it for myself, nor will I even say good-bye, for, under G.o.d, I am coming back to you."
He turned slowly, and walked away. As his hand touched the latch of the door he paused and looked longingly back.
"Naida."
She glanced up at him.
"You kissed me once; will you again?"
She rose silently and crossed over to him, her hands held out, her eyes uplifted to his own. Neither spoke as he drew her gently to him, and their lips met.
"Say it once more, sweetheart?"
"Donald, I love you."
A moment they stood thus face to face, reading the great lesson of eternity within the depths of each other"s eyes. Then slowly, gently, she released herself from the clasp of his strong arms.
"You believe in me now? You do not go away blaming me?" she questioned, with quivering lips.
"There is no blame, for you are doing what you think right. But I am coming back, Naida, little woman; coming back to love and you."
An hour later N Troop trotted across the rude bridge, and circled the bluff, on its way toward the wide plains. Brant, riding ahead of his men, caught a glimpse of something white fluttering from an open window of the yellow house fronting the road. Instantly he whipped off his campaign hat, and bowing to the saddle pommel, rode bareheaded out of sight. And from behind the curtain Naida watched the last horseman round the bluff angle, riding cheerfully away to hardship, danger, and death, her eyes dry and despairing, her heart scarcely beating. Then she crept across the narrow room, and buried her face in the coverlet of the bed.
_PART III_
ON THE LITTLE BIG HORN
CHAPTER I
MR. HAMPTON RESOLVES
Mr. Bob Hampton stood in the bright sunshine on the steps of the hotel, his appreciative gaze wandering up the long, dusty, unoccupied street, and finally rising to the sweet face of the young girl who occupied the step above. As their eyes met both smiled as if they understood each other. Except for being somewhat pale, the result of long, inactive weeks pa.s.sed indoors, Mr. Hampton"s appearance was that of perfect health, while the expression of his face evidenced the joy of living.
"There is nothing quite equal to feeling well, little girl," he said, genially, patting her hand where it rested on the railing, "and I really believe I am in as fine fettle now as I ever have been. Do you know, I believe I "m perfectly fit to undertake that little detective operation casually mentioned to you a few days ago. It "s got to be done, and the sooner I get at it the easier I"ll feel. Fact is, I put in a large portion of the night thinking out my plans."
"I wish you would give it up all together, Bob," she said, anxiously.
"I shall be so dull and lonely here while you are gone."
"I reckon you will, for a fact, as it"s my private impression that lovely Miss Spencer does n"t exert herself over much to be entertaining unless there happens to be a man in sight. Great guns! how she did fling language the last time she blew in to see me! But, Naida, it isn"t likely this little affair will require very long, and things are lots happier between us since my late shooting sc.r.a.pe. For one thing, you and I understand each other better; then Mrs. Herndon has been quite decently civil. When Fall comes I mean to take you East and put you in some good finishing school. Don"t care quite as much about it as you did, do you?"
"Yes, I think I do, Bob." She strove bravely to express enthusiasm.
"The trouble is, I am so worried over your going off alone hunting after that man."
He laughed, his eyes searching her face for the truth. "Well, little girl, he won"t exactly be the first I "ve had call to go after.
Besides, this is a particular case, and appeals to me in a sort of personal way. It you only knew it, you"re about as deeply concerned in the result as I am, and as for me, I can never rest easy again until the matter is over with."
"It"s that awful Murphy, is n"t it?"
"He"s the one I"m starting after first, and one sight at his right hand will decide whether he is to be the last as well."
"I never supposed you would seek revenge, like a savage," she remarked, quietly. "You never used to be that way."
"Good Lord, Naida, do you think I "m low down enough to go out hunting that poor cuss merely to get even with him for trying to stick me with a knife? Why, there are twenty others who have done as much, and we have been the best of friends afterwards. Oh, no, la.s.sie, it means more than that, and harks back many a long year. I told you I saw a mark on his hand I would never forget--but I saw that mark first fifteen years ago. I "m not taking my life in my hand to revenge the killing of Slavin, or in any memory of that little misunderstanding between the citizens of Glencaid and myself. I should say not. I have been slashed at and shot at somewhat promiscuously during the last five years, but I never permitted such little affairs to interfere with either business, pleasure, or friendship. If this fellow Murphy, or whoever the man I am after may prove to be, had contented himself with endeavoring playfully to carve me, the account would be considered closed. But this is a duty I owe a friend, a dead friend, to run to earth this murderer. Do you understand now? The fellow who did that shooting up at Bethune fifteen years ago had the same sort of a mark on his right hand as this one who killed Slavin. That"s why I"m after him, and when I catch up he"ll either squeal or die. He won"t be very likely to look on the matter as a joke."
"But how do you know?"
"I never told you the whole story, and I don"t mean to now until I come back, and can make everything perfectly clear. It would n"t do you any good the way things stand now, and would only make you uneasy. But if you do any praying over it, my girl, pray good and hard that I may discover some means for making that fellow squeal."
She made no response. He had told her so little, that it left her blindly groping, yet fearful to ask for more. She stood gazing thoughtfully past him.
"Have you heard anything lately, Bob, about the Seventh?" she asked, finally. "Since--since N Troop left here?"
He answered with well-simulated carelessness. "No; but it is most likely they are well into the game by this time. It"s bound to prove a hard campaign, to judge from all visible indications, and the trouble has been hatching long enough to get all the hostiles into a bunch. I know most of them, and they are a bad lot of savages. Crook"s column, I have just heard, was overwhelmingly attacked on the Rosebud, and forced to fall back. That leaves the Seventh to take the brunt of it, and there is going to be h.e.l.l up north presently, or I "ve forgotten all I ever knew about Indians. Sitting Bull is the arch-devil for a plot, and he has found able a.s.sistants to lead the fighting. I only wish it were my luck to be in it. But come, little girl, as I said, I "m quite likely to be off before night, provided I am fortunate enough to strike a fresh trail. Under such conditions you won"t mind my kissing you out here, will you?"
She held up her lips and he touched them softly with his own. Her eyes were tear-dimmed. "Oh, Bob, I hate so to let you go," she sobbed, clinging to him. "No one could have been more to me than you have been, and you are all I have left in the world. Everything I care for goes away from me. Life is so hard, so hard!"
"Yes, little girl, I know," and the man stroked her hair tenderly, his own voice faltering. "It"s all hard; I learned that sad lesson long ago, but I "ve tried to make it a little bit easier for you since we first came together. Still, I don"t see how I can possibly help this.
I "ve been hunting after that fellow a long while now, a matter of fifteen years over a mighty dim trail, and it would be a mortal sin to permit him to get away scot-free. Besides, if this affair only manages to turn out right, I can promise to make you the happiest girl in America. But, Naida, dear, don"t cling to me so; it is not at all like you to break down in this fashion," and he gently unclasped her hands, holding her away from him, while he continued to gaze hungrily into her troubled face. "It only weakens me at a time when I require all my strength of will."