He grinned, and the sight of his evil mirth told her she had failed.
"Didn"t I tell you I"d git you right some day? Didn"t I promise Angus McRae I"d pay him back aplenty for kickin" me outa his hide camp?
Ain"t you the lil" h.e.l.l-cat that busted my whiskey-kegs, that ran to the red-coat spy an" told him where the cache was, that shot me up when I set out to dry-gulch him, as you might say? Where do you figure you got a license to expect Bully West to listen to Sunday-school pap about being good to you? You"re my squaw, an" lucky at that you got a real two-fisted man. h.e.l.l"s hinges! What"s eatin" you?"
"Never!" she cried. "It"s true what I told you once. I"d rather die.
Oh, if you"ve got a spark of manhood in you, don"t make me kill myself. I"m just a girl. If I ever did you wrong, I"m sorry. I"ll make it right. My father--"
"Listen." His raucous voice cut through her entreaties. "I"ve heard more"n plenty about McRae. All I want o" him is to get a bead on him once with a rifle. Get me? Now this other talk--about killin"
yoreself--nothin" to it a-tall. Go to it if tha"s how you feel. Yore huntin"-knife"s right there in yore belt." He reached forward and plucked it from its sheath, then handed it to her blade first, stepping back a pace at once to make sure she did not use it on him.
"You got yore chance now. Kill away. I"ll stand right here an" see n.o.body interferes with you."
She shifted the knife and gripped the handle. A tumult seethed in her brain. She saw nothing but that evil, grinning face, hideous and menacing. For a moment murder boiled up in her, red-hot and sinister.
If she could kill him now as he stood jeering at her--drive the blade into that thick bull neck....
The madness pa.s.sed. She could not do it even if it were within her power. The urge to kill was not strong enough. It was not overwhelming. And in the next thought she knew, too, that she could not kill herself either. The blind need to live, the animal impulse of self-preservation, at whatever cost, whatever shame, was as yet more powerful than the horror of the fate impending.
She flung the knife down into the snow in a fury of disgust and self-contempt.
His head went back in a characteristic roar of revolting mirth. He had won. Bully West knew how to conquer "em, no matter how wild they were.
With feet dragging, head drooped, and spirits at the zero hour, Jessie moved down a ravine into sight of a cabin. Smoke rose from the chimney languidly.
"Home," announced West.
To the girl, at the edge of desperation, that log house appeared as the grave of her youth. All the pride and glory and joy that had made life so vital a thing were to be buried here. When next she came out into the sunlight she would be a broken creature--the property of this horrible caricature of a man.
Her captor opened the door and pushed the girl inside.
She stood on the threshold, eyes dilating, heart suddenly athrob with hope.
A man sitting on a stool before the open fire turned his head to see who had come in.
CHAPTER XXII
"MY d.a.m.n PRETTY LI"L" HIGH-STEPPIN" SQUAW"
The man on the stool was Whaley.
One glance at the girl and one at West"s triumphant gargoyle grin was enough. He understood the situation better than words could tell it.
To Jessie, at this critical moment of her life, even Whaley seemed a G.o.d-send. She pushed across the room awkwardly, not waiting to free herself of the webs packed with snow. In the dusky eyes there was a cry for help.
"Save me from him!" she cried simply, as a child might have done. "You will, won"t you?"
The black eyebrows in the cold, white face drew to a line. The gambler"s gaze, expressionless as a blank wall, met hers steadily.
"Why don"t you send for your friend Morse?" he asked. "He"s in that business. I ain"t."
It was as though he had struck her in the face. The eyes that clung to his we"re horror-filled. Did there really live men so heartless that they would not lift a hand to s.n.a.t.c.h a child from a ferocious wolf?
West"s laughter barked out, rapacious and savage. "She"s mine, jus"
like I said she"d be. My d.a.m.n pretty li"l" high-steppin" squaw."
His partner looked at him bleakly. "Oh, she"s yours, is she?"
"You bet yore boots. I"ll show her--make her eat outa my hand,"
boasted the convict.
"Will you show McRae too--and all his friends, as well as the North-West Mounted? Will you make "em all eat out of your hands?"
"Whadjamean?"
"Why, I had a notion you were loaded up with trouble and didn"t need to hunt more," sneered the gambler. "I had a notion the red-coats were on your heels to take you across the plains to hang you."
"I"ll learn "em about that," the huge fugitive bragged. "They say I"m a killer. Let it ride. I"ll sure enough let "em see they"re good guessers."
Whaley shrugged his shoulders and looked at him with cold contempt.
"You"ve got a bare chance for a getaway if you travel light and fast.
I"d want long odds to back it," he said coolly.
"Tha"s a heluva thing to tell a friend," West snarled.
"It"s the truth. Take it or leave it. But if you try to bull this through your own way and don"t let me run it, you"re done for."
"How done for?"
The gambler did not answer. He turned to Jessie. "Unless you want your feet to freeze, you"d better get those duffles off."
The girl took off her mits and tried to unfasten the leggings after she had kicked the snowshoes from her feet. But her stiff fingers could not loosen the knots.
The free trader stooped and did it for her while West watched him sulkily. Jessie unwound the cloth and removed moccasins and duffles.
She sat barefooted before the fire, but not too close.
"If they"re frozen I"ll get snow," Whaley offered.
"They"re not frozen, thank you," she answered.
"Whadjamean done for?" repeated West.
His partner"s derisive, scornful eye rested on him. "Use your brains, man. The Mounted are after you hot and heavy. You know their record.
They get the man they go after. Take this fellow Beresford, the one that jugged you."
The big ruffian shook a furious fist in the air. "Curse him!" he shouted, and added a dozen crackling oaths.