A swifter spasm, almost ugly in its rage, came over Mary Fortune"s lips; and then she shut them down again.
"Yes," she said with a sarcastic smile, "I"ve heard women say the same about men."
"Oh, you"ve always got some come-back," he went on bl.u.s.teringly, "but I notice you don"t say nothing against L. W. Now there was a man who had done me dirt--he sold me out, on the Gunsight--but when I trusted him and treated him white L. W. became my best friend. He stood right up with me against Andy McBain and that bunch of hired gun-fighters he had; and he"d lay down his life for me, to-morrow. And yet he just worships money! He thinks more of a dollar than I do of a million, but could Stoddard buy him out? Not on your life--he voted for the dividend! But where was my lady friend at?"
He glared at her insultingly and, torn by that great pa.s.sion that comes from devotion misprized and sacrifice rewarded with scorn, she leapt up to hurl back the truth. But a vision rose before her, the picture of L. W. sobbing and bleeding, his arm flapping beside him, striving vainly to retrieve his treachery; and the words did not pa.s.s her lips.
"_I"m_ not your friend, if that"s what you mean," she answered with withering scorn. "I"m against you, from this moment, on."
"Well, let it ride, then," he responded carelessly, and as she swept from the room, he smiled.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SHOW-DOWN
For the few brief weeks before the great trial the office was swarming with men. There were high-priced lawyers and geologists of renown and experts on every phase of the suit, and in the midst of them sat Rimrock Jones. He wore his big black hat that had cost him a hundred dollars--including the hat-check tips at the Waldorf--and his pistol was always at his hip. Every step of their case was carefully framed up in the long councils that took place, but at the end Rimrock lost his nerve. For the first time in his life, and with all eyes upon him, he weakened and lowered his proud head. He had a hunch he would lose.
For all those weeks he had been haunted by a presence that always flitted out of his way; but now she was there, in the crowded court-room, and she greeted him with a slow, mirthless smile. It was Mary Fortune and he remembered all too well that time when she had told him he would lose. She had said he would lose because he had no case, and because he used money instead; but he knew from that smile she had other reasons for p.r.o.nouncing his doom in advance. He had lawyers hired who told him, to the contrary, that he had a very good case--and Stoddard had spent money, too. Not openly, of course, but through his attorneys; but that was customary, it was always done. No, behind all her professions of respect for the judiciary and of worship for the law, she must know that the right sometimes failed. But behind that smile there was the absolute certainty that in some way he was certain to lose.
He met her glance as he came into the court-room surrounded by a troop of his friends, surrounded by lawyers and mining experts and geologists who professed to see through the earth, and before her gaze he halted and blenched. There was another person there who regarded him coldly with a glance like a rapier thrust; but it was not of Stoddard he was afraid. It was of Mary Fortune, who had come out against him and who could hear through walls with her "phone. What she knew might have helped him, but she was against him now--and she had told him in advance that he would lose.
As Rimrock sat thinking, his eyes cast down and his mind far back in the past, a great blow was struck by the bailiff"s mallet and the crowd rose up to its feet. A stern-faced judge, robed in the black cloak of his office, stepped out through the curtains behind the bench and as Rimrock stared the bailiff beckoned him sharply and he scrambled to his feet with the rest.
"Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!" cried the bailiff in the words that echoed of the past. "The United States District Court is now in session!"
He struck again as the judge took his seat and Rimrock sank down into his chair. But he had stood in respect to the majesty of the law and it was then that his hunch came back. For this was no appeal to an elected judge or the easily swayed emotions of a jury; it was an appeal to the cold, pa.s.sionless mind of a man who considered nothing but the law.
Ike Bray was there, looking pinched and scared, and the two guards who had witnessed his relocation, and they testified to the facts. In vain Rimrock"s lawyers orated and thundered or artfully framed up their long questions; it took days to do it, but when the testimony was all in it was apparent that Ike Bray"s claim would hold. But this was only the beginning of the battle, the skirmish to feel out the ground; and now the defense brought up its big guns. One after the other they put experts on the stand to testify to the geology of the Tecolote; but c.u.mmins and Ford produced others as eminent who testified to the opposite effect. So the battle raged until the wearied judge limited the profitless discussion to one more day, and then c.u.mmins and Ford launched their bombsh.e.l.l.
"Your Honor," began c.u.mmins as he rose with a great doc.u.ment. "I should like to introduce as evidence this report, which unfortunately has only just come to hand. As Your Honor has intimated the testimony of hired experts is always open to suspicion of bias, and especially where great interests are at stake; but I am able to offer for the information of the Court a doc.u.ment both impartial and thorough. It is the combined reports of three practical geologists employed by the Tecolote Company itself, though at a time preceding this suit and intended solely for the purposes of exploration. As Your Honor will observe, although the reports were made independently and under orders to seek nothing but the facts, they agree substantially in this: that, within an extension of its end-lines, the Old Juan claim is the true apex of the entire Tecolote ore body."
He handed over the report and sat down in triumph, while Rimrock"s lawyers all objected at once. The argument upon admitting to evidence this secret but authoritative report, consumed the greater part of the day; and at the end the plaintiff rested his case. Throughout the din of words, the verbal clashes, the long and wearisome citing of authorities and the brief "Overruled!" of the judge, Rimrock Jones sat sullen and downcast; and at the end he got up and went out. No one followed to cheer or console him--it was his confession of utter defeat. And the following day, when the Court convened, a verdict was rendered for the plaintiff. The lawyers and experts took their checks and departed and Rimrock Jones went home.
He went back to Gunsight where he had seen his greatest triumphs and his days of blackest defeat and waited for Stoddard to strike. It was all over now--all over but the details and the final acceptance of terms--and, while he waited, he packed up to go. No one knew better than Rimrock himself that it was right and fitting to move on. Old hatreds and animosities, old heart-burnings and recriminations, would make Gunsight a h.e.l.l-spot for him, and thwart him at every move. It was best to go on to Mexico. Even Ha.s.sayamp and L. W. agreed in this, although L. W. insisted upon staking him and declared it was all his own fault. But Mary Fortune, whether she gloried in his fall or pitied him for his great loss, kept discreetly out of his way.
She faced him the first time at the special meeting when Stoddard came to lay down his terms. As a legal fiction, a technical subterfuge, he still claimed to have bought up Bray"s claim; but no one was deceived as to his intent. If he had bought Bray out it was not for the Company, but for Whitney H. Stoddard personally; and with no intention of compromising. He came in briskly, his face stern and forbidding, his eyes burning with ill-suppressed fire; and he sat down impatiently to wait. Then as Rimrock slouched in and called the meeting to order Stoddard picked up a piece of blank paper and began to tear it into long, slender shreds.
"Well, to get down to business," said Rimrock at last after the various reports had been read, "we have come here, I take it, for a purpose."
He raised his eyes and met Stoddard"s defiantly, but Mary looked away.
"Yes, we have," answered Stoddard with business-like directness, "I have a proposition to make. As I suppose you both know I have bought up the claim of Mr. Bray, as decided by the court. That claim, of course, practically invalidates your stock since it takes away possession of the mine; but I am willing to make you a generous offer.
Our undivided profits--minus the amount, of course, that our General Manager has squandered on his defense--will be shared among us, pro rata. This will be in cash, and in consideration of the payment, I shall expect you to turn in your stock."
"What? For nothing?" cried Mary; but Rimrock did not flinch though his face became set with rage.
"It can hardly be called nothing," replied Stoddard severely, "when your own share comes to over two hundred thousand dollars. And as for Mr. Jones, he understands very well that I can claim every dollar he has."
"Well, that may be so, since you have a claim against him, but my stock is unenc.u.mbered. And since my share of the profits is in no sense a payment I shall decline to turn in my stock."
"Very well," answered Stoddard, his voice low and colorless, "I shall turn the matter over to my attorney and refuse to vote the dividend."
"Ah, I see," she murmured and glanced at Rimrock who answered with a curl of the lip.
"Mr. President," she said, "I move that the money at present in our treasury be set aside as a profit and divided among the stockholders pro rata."
"Just a moment!" warned Stoddard as Rimrock seemed about to fall in with her, "you can never collect that money. I have notified Mr.
Lockhart, the treasurer of our Company, that I will hold him personally responsible for every dollar he pays out, without my official O.K. You understand what that means. Within less than a month, through my suit now in court, I can claim every share of Mr. Jones" stock. Its value, in law, has been reduced to nothing, outside of this undivided profit; and that I offer you now. If you refuse I shall get judgment, claim his entire share of the profits, and take possession of the whole Tecolote properties by right of the Old Juan decision. I advise you to accept my first offer."
"All right," spoke up Rimrock, "I knew you"d rob me. Write out the check and I"ll be on my way."
"No, indeed!" cried Mary, "don"t you let him fleece you! I"ve got something to say here, myself!"
"Well, say it to him, then," returned Rimrock, wearily, "I"m sick and disgusted with the whole business."
"Yes, naturally," observed Stoddard, reaching into his pocket and deliberately pulling out his checkbook. "Most people are, by the time I get through with them; and your case is no exception. You made the mistake of trying to oppose me."
"I made the mistake," returned Rimrock hoa.r.s.ely, "of trusting a lot of crooks. But I never trusted you--don"t you think it for a minute--you"ve got n. g. written all over you."
"Another remark like that," said Stoddard freezingly, "and I"ll put my checkbook away."
"You do it," warned Rimrock without changing his position, "and I"ll blow the top of your head off."
Stoddard looked at him keenly, then uncapped his pen and proceeded to fill out the stub. For a moment there was silence, broken by the soft scratching of the pen, and then Mary Fortune stood up.
"I know it is customary," she said in suppressed tones, "for men to settle everything themselves; but you, Mr. Stoddard, and you, Mr.
Jones, are going to listen to me. I have put up long enough with your high-handed methods; but now, will you kindly look at that?"
She laid a paper on the table before Stoddard and stood back to watch the effect, but Rimrock only grunted contemptuously.
"Aw, fill out my check!" he said impatiently, but Stoddard was staring at the paper.
"Why, what is this? Where did you get this, Miss Fortune? I don"t think I quite understand."
"No, naturally! You overlooked the fact that a woman can jump claims, too. That is a recorded copy of my re-location of the Old Juan claim, at twelve-fifty-one, on January first. Your drunken Ike Bray came along at one-thirty and tacked his notice over mine. And now I must thank you, gentlemen, both of you, for your kind efforts in my behalf.
By spending your money on this expensive lawsuit you have proved my t.i.tle to the Tecolote Mine."
She sat down, smiling, and as Stoddard looked again at the paper his drawn face went suddenly white. He laid it down and with startled eyes glanced fearfully at those two. Would they stand together? Did she realize her advantage? Could he buy her off--and for how much? A hundred swift questions flashed through his mind, and then Rimrock reached over for the notice. He gazed at it quietly and then, looking at Mary, he gave way to a cynical smile.
"Could you hear through a wall?" he enquired enigmatically, and Stoddard snapped his fingers in vexation.
"Ah, I see," he observed, "not so deaf as you seem. Well, Miss Fortune, may I see you alone?"
"You may not!" she answered. "I might show you some pity, though you don"t deserve it; so, knowing Mr. Jones as I do, I will leave the decision to him."
She glanced at Rimrock with a quick, radiant smile that revealed more than she knew of her heart; but his face had suddenly gone grim.