"Do you know where he lives?"
"Near about," Bob answered. "We won"t have any trouble finding it."
"It"s a pity the sheriff can"t take this duty from us," the older man said. "It"s a pity we have no system of law that will spare women from unpleasant notoriety under such conditions. Men of the South would be less quick to take matters into their own hands if they were a.s.sured that the occasional women who may suffer would be spared the further suffering of public embarra.s.sment in open court."
"Yes," Bob a.s.sented, "but this is our only way, so far. Shall we kill him?"
"My mind is still in solution as to that," the Colonel gravely answered.
"It has not yet crystallized. If he were not the poor half-wit he is, we would by all means. Under the circ.u.mstances, I hardly think we have the right. Yet, after all is said, he may be just the sort who should be put out of harm"s way. However, the most we will do will be to frighten him out of the country;--unless he stands his ground."
"He"ll doubtless do that, and open on us when we come in sight," Bob suggested. "Of course, he"ll know what we"re after."
"I think it likely," the Colonel replied. "Let me caution you against unnecessary risks."
Some two or three miles from Arden the dirt road sharply began its climb into the k.n.o.bs, and through this rough and wooded foothill country of the farther c.u.mberlands, scarred by cliffs and ravines, they rode in silence. At last Bob spoke.
"We"re not far off. His shack is somewhere in here."
They were riding at a quick walk, alert, watching up each ravine for signs of habitation, when suddenly a man, rifle in hand, stepped out two hundred yards ahead of them. A lightning touch of rein and spur, and both horses had sprung instantly apart, while the two repeaters flew with exact precision to the riders" shoulders. To their surprise, however, the man raised his hand.
"What do you make of this?" the Colonel asked in a cautious tone, when they had recognized Dale advancing, instead of the expected Potter.
"Squirrel hunting," Bob answered. "He told Zack."
Dale came with the long stride peculiar to his people, the stride with which they cover thirty miles a day and think it no great walk.
"Good mawnin"," he called, in a drawling voice. "There"s no game in these parts."
He advanced with perfect ease--the ease of a wild thing walking at will--and the smile that illumined his face made it almost handsome.
Absorbed even as the Colonel and Bob were in their own mission, and surprised by this unexpected interruption, they exchanged glances at his rather correct form of speech. Several times the evening before Colonel May had been impressed by this, and had thought of it after getting into bed, determining then to speak of it in the morning. So, recurring to him now, he said in an undertone:
"That fellow knows how to talk well."
"He does, and he doesn"t," Bob replied. "Jane and I were speaking of it last night. If you"ll notice, when he gets excited, or much interested, he"s like a typical mountaineer. Only when careful is it otherwise. He"s a funny cuss, but, gee, Colonel, look at that power! I"ll bet he can run a hundred miles without turning a hair!"
The figure was almost up to them.
"There isn"t anything to shoot," he said again, with a meaning smile of confidence.
"What are you hunting, sir?" the Colonel asked, after a polite exchange of greetings.
Dale looked at them and chuckled. It was a sign of comradeship, of fellowship; the sort of chuckle in which two boys might indulge if, having entered a jam closet from opposite sides and each unknown to the other, they suddenly meet face to face.
"I"m huntin" the same sort of game you-all air, I reckon," he remarked, pushing back his hat. "But it"s gone."
"Squirrels?"
The mountaineer regarded them with something pathetic in his eyes, and when he spoke his voice was tinged with disappointment.
"Last night," he said, "I thought ye war both my friends--"n" I war a-ready ter be yourn. Why do ye want ter lie ter me?"
A flush of anger spread over their faces, and the Colonel was framing a scorching retort, when Dale continued:
"No, hit hain"t squir"ls; hit"s that varmint Tusk Potter. I hain"t afeerd ter tell. His shack"s back thar;" jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "or, I"d ought ter say, what"s left of hit"s thar. He"s gone."
"Did you kill him?" the Colonel asked, looking squarely into his eyes.
"That hain"t jest a question one man ought ter be askin" of another man," he quickly answered. "But as. .h.i.t turned out, I didn"t kill him; "n" I didn"t mean ter. I kind of swore off killin" folks when I war a kid, "n" hain"t done hit much since. But I did mean ter run him outen the country, "n" burn his cabin. If he"d ruther"ve stayed "n" got kilt, that war his business."
By a common impulse the three started back, Dale leading them some half a mile when they dismounted and threaded their way along an obscure trail. This led up a deep ravine, through which trickled the South Fork of Blacksnake Creek, and eventually brought them out at a small clearing. In the center smouldered the ruins of a cabin, with a few fitful flames still spurting from the ashes and charred log ends.
"You"ve done well, Dale," the Colonel observed. "Bob, leave a notice for him here. He can read, I suppose?"
"He"s been going to school for several months," Bob said, tearing off the back of an envelope and stooping to write.
Dale came close on tiptoe and watched this process over the young man"s shoulder. He stood in an att.i.tude of rapt attention and, as the pencil made stroke after stroke of the printed letters, his own finger traced each line in the air, as though he were memorizing their directions and positions. Only after the notice had been pressed on a sharpened stick and placed before the ruined threshold could he leave it. Turning to them he said in an awed voice:
"That"s the fu"st writin" I ever seed! What does. .h.i.t mean?"
While Bob repeated it the mountaineer"s lips moved after him, as he tried carefully to fit each sentence to the pencil strokes. But from his deep breath of uncertainty at the end it appeared to bring him little satisfaction; and he was turning away when suddenly his frame stiffened and his hand touched Bob"s shoulder.
To the east of them stood Snarly k.n.o.b, so called because of its serrated crest resembling a row of teeth from which the lips had been drawn back in an angry snarl. Half way up its almost perpendicular side a spur jutted into the air, and on this a figure stood. Only the hawk-like eyes of Dale could have seen the clenched fists raised high in a gesture of fury, eloquent of a flow of oaths which he knew were being hurled upon the trespa.s.sers in the clearing. The Colonel and Bob, following his steady gaze, saw and understood. Bob"s face went white with anger, but the older man"s held a troubled look. Dale"s face told no story whatsoever.
"I wish he"d fall," Bob gritted his teeth. "He"s just above the disappearing stream, Colonel!"
"What"s the disappearin" stream?" Dale asked.
"It"s a good sized creek that comes tearing down and tumbles into a sort of cave. n.o.body knows where it comes out, and if it ever catches a man he"s gone. The hole and suction is directly under that spur."
"Couldn"t fetch "im with one of them new-fangled guns of your"n, could ye?"
"Oh, no, Dale; that spur must be easily two miles."
"Come," said the Colonel, "let us go back. Our mission here is done, and now we must see that it remains well done. Dale, how did you find this place?"
"I came from the schoolhouse," he answered.
"You mean," Bob cried, "that you trailed him half a dozen miles?"
"Yep," he answered.
"You d.a.m.ned Indian," the young planter admiringly exclaimed; "that"s the smoothest trick I ever saw!"
""Tain"t no trick," Dale simply replied. "I allers find folks that a-way, same as varmints do. Hit"s Nature"s way."
"Since we have come together this morning," the Colonel observed, smiling a frank compliment at Dale"s woodcraft, "we may as well drop the bars, shake hands across the gap, and speak plainly one with the other. First, I want to thank you, sir, for your chivalry yesterday evening to Miss Jane--"
"What"s chivalry?" the mountaineer interrupted.