"My friend," he said, "it is the custom among gentlemen to answer a courteous question. I must ask you then what there is between you and my daughter, and why she should follow you across Death Valley?"
"There is nothing between us," answered Wiley categorically, "and I don"t know why she followed me--that is, if she really did."
"Well, I did!" sobbed Virginia, burying her face on her father"s breast, "but I wish I hadn"t now!"
"Huh!" grunted Wiley and stumped off down the trail where he filled his canteen at the pool. He was mad, mad all over, and yet he experienced a strange thrill at the thought of Virginia following him. He had left her smiling and shaking hands with Blount, but a curse had been on the money, and her conscience had forced her to follow him. It had been easy, for her, with a burro to ride on and Death Valley Charley to guide her; but with him it had been different. He had fled from arrest and it was only by accident that he had won to the water-hole in time. But yet, she had followed him; and now she would apologize and explain, as she had explained it all once before. Well, since she had come--and since the Colonel was watching him--he shouldered his canteen and came back.
"My daughter tells me," began the Colonel formally, "that you are the son of my old friend, John Holman; and I trust that you will take my hand."
He held out his hand and Wiley blinked as he returned the warm clasp of his friend. Ten days of companionship in the midst of that solitude had knitted their souls together and he loved the old Colonel like a father.
"That"s all right," he muttered. "And--say, hunt up the Old Man! Because he thinks the world of you, still."
"I will do so," replied the Colonel, "but will you do me a favor? By gad, sir; I can"t let you go. No, you must stay with me, Wiley, if that is your name; I want to talk with you later, about your father. But now, as a favor, since Virginia has come so far, I will ask you to sit down and listen to her. And--er--Wiley; just a moment!" He beckoned him to one side and spoke low in his ear. "About that woman who betrayed your trust--perhaps I"d better not mention her to Virginia?"
Wiley"s eyes grew big and then they narrowed. The Colonel thought there was another woman. How could he, proud soul, even think for a moment that Virginia herself had betrayed him? No, to his high mind it was inconceivable that a daughter of his should violate a trust; and there was Virginia, watching them.
"Very well," replied Wiley, and smiled to himself as he laid down his gun and canteen. He led the way up the creek to where a gnarled old cottonwood cast its shadow against the cliff and smoothed out a seat against the bank. "Now sit down," he said, "and let"s have this over with before the Colonel gets wise. He"s a fine old gentleman and if his daughter took after him I wouldn"t be dodging the sheriff."
"Well, I came to tell you," began Virginia bravely, "that I"m sorry for what I"ve done. And to show you that I mean it I gave Blount back his stock."
Wiley gazed at her grimly for a moment and then he curled up his lip.
"Why not come through," he asked at last, "and acknowledge that he held it out on you?"
Virginia started and then she smiled wanly.
"No," she said, "it wasn"t quite that. And yet--well, he didn"t really give it to me."
"I knew it!" exploded Wiley, "the doggoned piker! But of course you made a clean-up on your other stock?"
"No, I didn"t! I gave that away, too! But Wiley, why won"t you listen to me? I didn"t intend to do it, but he explained it all so nicely----"
"Didn"t I tell you he would?" he raged.
"Yes, but listen; you don"t understand. When I went to him first I asked for Father"s stock and--he must have known what was coming. I guess he saw the bills. Anyway, he told me then that he had always loved my father, and that he wanted to protect us from you; and so, he said, he was just holding my Father"s stock to keep you from getting it away from us. And then he called in some friends of his; and oh, they all became so indignant that I thought I couldn"t be wrong! Why, they showed me that you would make millions by the deal, and all at our expense; and then--I don"t know, something came over me. We"d been poor so long, and it would make you so rich; and, like a fool, I went and did it."
"Well, that"s all right," said Wiley. "I forgive you, and all that; but don"t let your father know. He"s got old-fashioned ideas about keeping a trust and--say, do you know what he thinks? I happened to mention, the first night I got in, that a woman had thrown me down; and he just now took me aside and told me not to worry because he"d never mention the lady to you. He thinks it was somebody else."
"Oh," breathed Virginia, and then she sat silent while he kicked a hole in the dirt and waited. He was willing to concede anything, agree to anything, look pleasant at anything, until the ordeal was over; and then he intended to depart. Where he would go was a detail to be considered later when he felt the need of something to occupy his mind; right now he was only thinking that she looked very pale--and there was a tired, hunted look in her eyes. She had nerves, of course, the same as he had, and the trip across Death Valley had been hard on her; but if she suffered now, he had suffered also, and he failed to be as sorry as he should.
"You"ll be all right now," he said at last, when it seemed she would never speak up, "and I"m glad you found your father. He"ll go back with you now and take a fall out of Blount and--well, you won"t feel so poor, any more."
"Yes, I will," returned Virginia, suddenly rousing up and looking at him with haggard eyes. "I"ll always feel poor, because if I gave you back all I had it wouldn"t be a tenth of what you lost."
"Oh, that"s all right," grumbled Wiley. "I don"t care about the money.
Are they hunting me for murder, or what?"
"Oh, no; not for anything!" she answered eagerly. "You"ll come back, won"t you, Wiley? Mother was watching you through her gla.s.ses, and she says George fired first. They aren"t trying to arrest you; all they want you to do is to give up and stand a brief trial. And I"ll help you, Wiley; oh, I"ve just got to do something or I"ll be miserable all my life!"
"You"re tired now," said Wiley. "It"ll look different, pretty soon; and--well, I don"t think I"ll go in, right now."
"But where will you go?" she entreated piteously. "Oh, Wiley, can"t you see I"m sorry? Why can"t you forgive me and let me try to make amends, instead of making both our lives so miserable?"
"I don"t know," answered Wiley. "It"s just the way I feel. I"ve got nothing _against_ you; I just want to get away and forget a few things that you"ve done."
"And then?" she asked, and he smiled enigmatically.
"Well, maybe you"ll forget me, too."
"But Father!" she objected as he rose up suddenly and started off down the creek. "He thinks we"re lovers, you know." Wiley stopped and the cold anger in his eyes gave way to a look of doubt. "Why not pretend we are?" she suggested wistfully. "Not really, but just before him. I told him we"d quarreled--and he knows I followed after you. Just to-day, Wiley; and then you can go. But if my father should think----"
"Well, all right," he broke in, and as they stepped out into the open she slipped her hand into his.
CHAPTER x.x.xII
A HUFF
The Colonel was sitting in the shade of a wild grapevine rapping out a series of questions at Charley, but at sight of the young people coming back hand in hand, he paused and smiled understandingly.
"What now?" he said. "Is there a new earth and a new heaven? Ah, well; then Virginia"s trip was worth while. But Charley here is so full of signs and wonders that my brain is fairly in a whirl. The Germans, it seems, have made a forty-two centimeter gun that is blasting down cities in France; and the Allies, to beat them, are constructing still larger ones made out of tungsten that is mined from the Paymaster. Yes, yes, Charley, that"s all right, I don"t doubt your word, but we"ll call on Wiley for the details."
He laughed indulgently and poured Charley out a drink which made his eyes blink and snap and then he waved him graciously away.
"Take your burros up the canyon," he suggested briefly, and when Charley was gone he smiled. "Now," he said, as Virginia sat down beside him, "what"s all this about the Paymaster and Keno?"
"Well," began Virginia as Wiley sat silent, "there really was tungsten in the mine. Wiley discovered it first--he was just going through the town when he saw that specimen in my collection--and since then,--oh, everything has happened!"
"By the dog!" exclaimed the Colonel starting quickly to his feet. "Do you mean that Crazy Charley spoke the truth? Is the mine really open and the town full of people and----"
"You wouldn"t know it!" cried Virginia, triumphantly. "All that heavy, white quartz was tungsten!"
"What? That waste on the dump? But how much is it worth? Old Charley says it"s better than gold!"
"It is!" she answered. "Why, some of that rock ran five thousand dollars to the ton!"
"Five--thousand!" repeated the Colonel, and then he whirled on Wiley.
"What"s the reason, then," he demanded, "that you"re hiding out here in the hills? Didn"t you get possession of the mine?"
"Under a bond and lease," explained Wiley shortly. "I failed to meet the final payment."
"Why--how much was this payment?" inquired the Colonel cautiously, as he sensed the sudden constraint. "It seems to me the mine should have paid it at once."
"Fifty thousand," answered Wiley, gazing glumly at the ground and the Colonel opened his eyes!