"It"s not for him."
West moistened his dry lips with his tongue. "You will have yore li"l joke, eh? Who"s it for?"
"For you."
"For me?" The man"s fear burst from him in a shriek. "Whajamean for me?"
From the lettering Morse read aloud. ""Bully West, Executed, Some Time late in March, 1875."" And beneath it, ""May G.o.d Have Mercy on His Soul.""
Tiny beads of sweat gathered on the convict"s clammy forehead. "You aimin" to--to murder me?" he asked hoa.r.s.ely.
"To execute you."
"With--without a trial? My G.o.d, you can"t do that! I got a right to a trial."
"You"ve been tried--and condemned. I settled all that in the night."
"But--it ain"t legal. G.o.ddlemighty, you got no _right_ to act thataway. All you can do is to take me back to the courts." The heavy voice broke again to a scream.
Morse slipped the hunting-knife back into its case. He looked steadily at the prisoner. In his eyes there was no anger, no hatred. But back of the sadness in them was an implacable resolution.
"Courts and the law are a thousand miles away," he said. "You know your crimes. You murdered Tim Kelly treacherously. You planned to spoil an innocent girl"s life by driving her to worse than death.
You shot your partner in the back after he did his best to help you escape. You tortured Onistah and would have killed him if we hadn"t come in time. You a.s.saulted my friend here and he"ll probably die from his wounds. It"s the end of the long trail for you, Bully West. Inside of half an hour you will be dead. If you"ve anything to say--if you can make your peace with heaven--don"t waste a moment."
The face of West went gray. He stared at the other man, the horror-filled eyes held fascinated. "You--you"re tryin" to scare me,"
he faltered. "You wouldn"t do that. You couldn"t. It ain"t allowed by the Commissioner." One of the bound arms twitched involuntarily. The convict knew that he was lost. He had a horrible conviction that this man meant to do as he had said.
The face of Morse was inexorable as fate itself, but inside he was a river of rushing sympathy. This man was bad. He himself had forced the circ.u.mstances that made it impossible to let him live. None the less Tom felt like a murderer. The thing he had to do was so horribly cold-blooded. If this had been a matter between the two of them, he could at least have given the fellow a chance for his life. But not now--not with Win Beresford in the condition he was. If he were going to save his friend, he could not take the chances of a duel.
"Ten minutes now," Morse said. His voice was hoa.r.s.e and low. He felt his nerves twitching, a tense aching in the throat.
"I always liked you fine, Tom," the convict pleaded desperately. "Me "n" you was always good pals. You wouldn"t do me dirt thataway now. If you knew the right o" things--how that Kelly kep" a-devilin" me, how Whaley was layin" to gun me when he got a chanct, how I stood up for the McRae girl an" protected her against him. G.o.ddlemighty, man, you ain"t aimin" to kill me like a wolf!" The shriek of uncontrollable terror lifted into his voice once more. "I ain"t ready to die. Gimme a chance, Tom. I"ll change my ways. I swear I will. I"ll do like you say every minute. I"ll nurse Beresford. Me, I"m a fine nurse. If you"ll gimme a week--jus" one more week. That ain"t much to ask. So"s I can git ready."
The man slipped to his knees and began to crawl toward Morse. The young man got up, his teeth set. He could not stand much of this sort of thing without collapsing himself.
"Get up," he said. "We"re going over the hill there."
"No--no--no!"
It took Morse five minutes to get the condemned man to his feet. The fellow"s face was ashen. His knees shook.
Tom was in almost as bad a condition himself.
Beresford"s high voice cut in. In his delirium he was perhaps living over again his experience with Pierre Poulette.
"Maintiens le droit. Get your man and bring him in. Tough sledding.
Never mind. Go through, old fellow. Bring him in. That"s what you"re sent for. Hogtie him. Drag him with a rope around his neck. Get him back somehow."
The words struck Tom motionless. It was as though some voice were speaking to him through the sick man"s lips. He waited.
"Righto, sir," the soldier droned on. "See what I can do, sir. Have a try at it, anyhow." And again he murmured the motto of the Mounted Police.
Tom had excused himself for what he thought it was his duty to do on the ground that it was not humanly possible to save his friend and bring West back. It came to him in a flash that the Mounted Police were becoming so potent a power for law and order because they never asked whether the job a.s.signed them was possible. They went ahead and did it or died trying to do it. It did not matter primarily whether Beresford and he got back alive or not. If West murdered them, other red-coats would take the trail and get him.
What he, Tom Morse, had to do was to carry on. He could not choose the easy way, even though it was a desperately hard one for him. He could not make himself a judge over this murderer, with power of life and death. The thing that had been given him to do was to bring West to Faraway. He had no choice in the matter. Win or lose, he had to play the hand out as it was dealt him.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII
OVER A ROTTING TRAIL
Tom believed that Beresford"s delirious words had condemned them both to death. He could not nurse his friend, watch West night and day, keep the camp supplied with food, and cover the hundreds of miles of bleak snow fields which stretched between them and the nearest settlement. He did not think that any one man lived who was capable of succeeding in such a task.
Yet his first feeling was of immediate relief. The horrible duty that had seemed to be laid upon him was not a duty at all. He saw his course quite simply. All he had to do was to achieve the impossible.
If he failed in it, he would go down like a soldier in the day"s work.
He would have, anyhow, no torturings of conscience, no blight resting upon him till the day of his death.
"You"re reprieved, West," he announced simply.
The desperado staggered to the sled and leaned against it faintly. His huge body swayed. The revulsion was almost too much for him.
"I--I--knowed you couldn"t treat an old pardner thataway, Tom," he murmured.
Morse took the man out to a fir tree. He carried with him a blanket, a buffalo robe, and a part of the dog harness.
"Whad you aimin" to do?" asked West uneasily. He was not sure yet that he was out of the woods.
"Roll up in the blankets," ordered Morse.
The fellow looked at his grim face and did as he was told. Tom tied him to the tree, after making sure that his hands were fast behind him.
"I"ll freeze here," the convict complained.
The two officers were lean and gaunt from hard work and insufficient nourishment, but West was still sleek and well padded with flesh.
He had not missed a meal, and during the past weeks he had been a pa.s.senger. All the hard work, the packing at portages, the making of camp, the long, wearing days of hunting, had fallen upon the two whose prisoner he was. He could stand a bit of hardship, Tom decided.
"No such luck," he said brusquely. "And I wouldn"t try to break away if I were you. I can"t kill you, but I"ll thrash you with the dog-whip if you make me any trouble."
Morse called Cuffy and set the dog to watch the bound man. He did not know whether the St. Bernard would do this, but he was glad to see that the leader of the train understood at once and settled down in the snow to sleep with one eye watchful of West.
Tom returned to his friend. He knew he must concentrate his efforts to keep life in the battered body of the soldier. He must nurse and feed him judiciously until the fever wore itself out.
While he was feeding Win broth, he fell asleep with the spoon in his hand. He jerkily flung back his head and opened his eyes. Cuffy still lay close to the prisoner, evidently prepared for an all-night vigil with short light naps from which the least movement would instantly arouse him.
"I"m all in. Got to get some sleep," Morse said to himself, half aloud.