"There"s nothing out this road but the Junction," he thought, trying to collect his wits. "Could they be taking the train there? He goes to California in the morning, but where"s he taking Nettie to-day? And she didn"t want to be going, either; didn"t I hear her say it with her own lips?"
He moved cautiously forward, now running a few paces to keep up, now crouching behind the bushes. Every sense was keenly alert; his eyes never left the buggy for a moment.
When the freight thundered up the grade, he stepped mechanically to one side, keeping a vigilant eye on the couple ahead, and begrudging the time he lost while the train went by. It was not until an hour later that he remembered he had forgotten to commit suicide.
Stepping back on the ties, he hurried forward. He was convinced now that they meant to take the down train which would pa.s.s the Clayton train at the Junction in half an hour. Something must be done to save Annette. The thought of her in the city, at the mercy of the irresponsible Carter, sent him running down the track. He waited until he was slightly in advance before he descended abruptly upon them.
Annette was sitting very straight, talking excitedly, and Carter was evidently trying to rea.s.sure her.
As Sandy plunged down the embankment, they started apart, and Carter reached for the whip. Before he could urge the horse forward, Sandy had swung himself lightly to the step of the buggy, and was leaning back against the dash-board. He looked past Carter to Annette. She was making a heroic effort to look unconcerned and indifferent, but her eyelids were red, and her handkerchief was twisted into a damp little string about her fingers. Sandy wasted no time in diplomacy; he struck straight out from the shoulder.
"If it"s doing something you don"t want to, you don"t have to, Nettie.
I"m here."
Carter stopped his horse.
"Will you get down?" he demanded angrily.
"After you," said Sandy.
Carter measured his man, then stepped to the ground. Sandy promptly followed.
"And now," said Carter, "you"ll perhaps be good enough to explain what you mean."
Sandy still kept his hand on the buggy and his eyes on Annette; when he spoke it was to her.
"If it"s your wish to go on, say the word."
The tearful young person in the buggy looked very limp and miserable, but declined to make any remarks.
"Miss Fenton and I expect to be married this evening," said Carter, striving for dignity, though his breath came short with excitement.
"We take the train in twenty minutes. Your interference is not only impudent--it"s useless. I know perfectly well who sent you: it was Judge Hollis. He was the only man we met after we left town. Just return to him, with my compliments, and tell him I say he is a meddler and a fool!"
"Annette," said Sandy, softly, coming toward her, "the doctor"ll be wanting his coffee by now."
"Let me pa.s.s," cried Carter, "you common hound! Take your foot off that step or I"ll--" He made a quick motion toward his hip, and Sandy caught his hand as it closed on a pearl-handled revolver.
"None of that, man! I"ll be going when I have her word. Is it good-by, Annette? Must I be taking the word to your father that you"ve left him now and for always? Yes? Then a shake of the hand for old times"
sake."
Annette slipped a cold little hand into his free one, and feeling the solid grasp of his broad palm, she clung to it as a drowning man clings to a spar.
"I can"t go!" she cried, in a burst of tears. "I can"t leave dad this way! Make him take me b-back, Sandy! I want to go home!"
Carter stood very still and white. His thin body was trembling from head to foot, and the veins stood out on his forehead like whip-cord.
He clenched his hands in an effort to control himself. At Annette"s words he stepped aside with elaborate courtesy.
"You are at perfect liberty to go with Mr. Kilday. All I ask is that he will meet me as soon as we get back to town."
"I can"t go b-back on the train!" cried Annette, with a glance at her bags and boxes. "Every one would suspect something if I did. Oh, why d-did I come?"
"My buggy is at your disposal," said Carter; "perhaps your disinterested friend, Mr. Kilday, could be persuaded to drive you back."
"But, Carter," cried Annette, in quick dismay, "you must come, too.
I"ll bring dad r-round; I always do. Then we can be married at home, and I can have a veil and a r-ring and presents."
She smiled at him coaxingly, but he folded his arms and scowled.
"You go with me to the city, or you go back to Clayton with him. You have just three minutes to make up your mind."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Sandy saw her waver"]
Sandy saw her waver. The first minute she looked at him, the second at Carter. He took no chances on the third. With a quick bound, he was in the buggy and turning the horse homeward.
"But I"ve decided to go with Carter!" cried Annette, hysterically.
"Turn b-back, Sandy! I"ve changed my mind."
"Change it again," advised Sandy as he laid the whip gently across the horse"s back.
Carter Nelson flung furiously off to catch the train for town, while the would-be bride shed bitter tears on the shoulder of the would-be suicide.
The snow fell faster and faster, and the gray day deepened to dusk.
For a long time they drove along in silence, both busy with their own thoughts.
Suddenly they were lurched violently forward as the horse shied at something in the bushes. Sandy leaned forward in time to see a figure on all fours plunging back into the shrubbery.
"Annette," he whispered excitedly, "did you see that man"s face?"
"Yes," she said, clinging to his arm; "don"t leave me, Sandy!"
"What did he look like? Tell me, quick!"
"He had little eyes like shoe-b.u.t.tons, and his teeth stuck out. Do you suppose he was hiding?"
"It was Ricks Wilson, or I am a blind man!" cried Sandy, standing up in the buggy and straining his eyes in the darkness.
"Why, he"s in jail!"
"May I never trust me two eyes to speak the truth again if that wasn"t Ricks!"
When they started they found that the harness was broken, and all efforts to fix it were in vain.
"It"s half-past five now," cried Annette. "If I don"t get home b-before dad, he"ll have out the fire department."
"There"s a farm-house a good way back," said Sandy; "but it"s too far for you to walk. Will you be waiting here in the buggy until I go for help?"
"Well, I guess not!" said Annette, indignantly.