The increased interest with which Kells looked down upon Jim Cleve was not lost upon Joan. But she had seen enough, and, turning away, she stumbled to the bed and lay there with an ache in her heart.
"Oh," she whispered to herself, "he is ruined--ruined--ruined!... G.o.d forgive me!" She saw bright, cold stars shining between the logs. The night wind swept in cold and pure, with the dew of the mountain in it.
She heard the mourn of wolves, the hoot of an owl, the distant cry of a panther, weird and wild. Yet outside there was a thick and lonely silence. In that other cabin, from which she was mercifully shut out, there were different sounds, hideous by contrast. By and by she covered her ears, and at length, weary from thought and sorrow, she drifted into slumber.
Next morning, long after she had awakened, the cabin remained quiet, with no one stirring. Morning had half gone before Wood knocked and gave her a bucket of water, a basin and towels. Later he came with her breakfast. After that she had nothing to do but pace the floor of her two rooms. One appeared to be only an empty shed, long in disuse. Her view from both rooms was restricted to the green slope of the gulch up to yellow crags and the sky. But she would rather have had this to watch than an outlook upon the cabins and the doings of these bandits.
About noon she heard the voice of Kells in low and earnest conversation with someone; she could not, however, understand what was said. That ceased, and then she heard Kells moving around. There came a clatter of hoofs as a horse galloped away from the cabin, after which a knock sounded on the wall.
"Joan," called Kells. Then the curtain was swept aside and Kells, appearing pale and troubled, stepped into her room.
"What"s the matter?" asked Joan, hurriedly.
"Gulden shot two men this morning. One"s dead. The other"s in bad shape, so Red tells me. I haven"t seen him."
"Who--who are they?" faltered Joan. She could not think of any man except Jim Cleve.
"Dan Small"s the one"s dead. The other they call d.i.c.k. Never heard his last name."
"Was it a fight?"
"Of course. And Gulden picked it. He"s a quarrelsome man. n.o.body can go against him. He"s all the time like some men when they"re drunk. I"m sorry I didn"t bore him last night. I would have done it if it hadn"t been for Red Pearce."
Kells seemed gloomy and concentrated on his situation and he talked naturally to Joan, as if she were one to sympathize. A bandit, then, in the details of his life, the schemes, troubles, friendships, relations, was no different from any other kind of a man. He was human, and things that might const.i.tute black evil for observers were dear to him, a part of him. Joan feigned the sympathy she could not feel.
"I thought Gulden was your enemy."
Kells sat down on one of the box seats, and his heavy gun-sheath rested upon the floor. He looked at Joan now, forgetting she was a woman and his prisoner.
"I never thought of that till now," he said. "We always got along because I understood him. I managed him. The man hasn"t changed in the least. He"s always what he is. But there"s a difference. I noticed that first over in Lost Canon. And Joan, I believe it"s because Gulden saw you."
"Oh, no!" cried Joan, trembling.
"Maybe I"m wrong. Anyway something"s wrong. Gulden never had a friend or a partner. I don"t misunderstand his position regarding Bailey. What did he care for that soak? Gulden"s cross-grained. He opposes anything or anybody. He"s got a twist in his mind that makes him dangerous.... I wanted to get rid of him. I decided to--after last night. But now it seems that"s no easy job."
"Why?" asked Joan, curiously.
"Pearce and Wood and Beard, all men I rely on, said it won"t do. They hint Gulden is strong with my gang here, and all through the border.
I was wild. I don"t believe it. But as I"m not sure--what can I do?...
They"re all afraid of Gulden. That"s it.... And I believe I am, too."
"You!" exclaimed Joan.
Kells actually looked ashamed. "I believe I am, Joan," he replied. "That Gulden is not a man. I never was afraid of a real man. He"s--he"s an animal."
"He made me think of a gorrilla," said Joan.
"There"s only one man I know who"s not afraid of Gulden. He"s a new-comer here on the border. Jim Cleve he calls himself. A youngster I can"t figure! But he"d slap the devil himself in the face. Cleve won"t last long out here. Yet you can never tell. Men like him, who laugh at death, sometimes avert it for long. I was that way once.... Cleve heard me talking to Pearce about Gulden. And he said, "Kells, I"ll pick a fight with this Gulden and drive him out of the camp or kill him.""
"What did you say?" queried Joan, trying to steady her voice as she averted her eyes.
"I said "Jim, that wins me. But I don"t want you killed."... It certainly was nervy of the youngster. Said it just the same as--as he"d offer to cinch my saddle. Gulden can whip a roomful of men. He"s done it. And as for a killer--I"ve heard of no man with his record."
"And that"s why you fear him?"
"It"s not," replied Kells, pa.s.sionately, as if his manhood had been affronted. "It"s because he"s Gulden. There"s something uncanny about him.... Gulden"s a cannibal!"
Joan looked as if she had not heard aright.
"It"s a cold fact. Known all over the border. Gulden"s no braggart.
But he"s been known to talk. He was a sailor--a pirate. Once he was shipwrecked. Starvation forced him to be a cannibal. He told this in California, and in Nevada camps. But no one believed him. A few years ago he got snowed-up in the mountains back of Lewiston. He had two companions with him. They all began to starve. It was absolutely necessary to try to get out. They started out in the snow. Travel was desperately hard. Gulden told that his companions dropped. But he murdered them--and again saved his life by being a cannibal. After this became known his sailor yarns were no longer doubted.... There"s another story about him. Once he got hold of a girl and took her into the mountains. After a winter he returned alone. He told that he"d kept her tied in a cave, without any clothes, and she froze to death."
"Oh, horrible!" moaned Joan.
"I don"t know how true it is. But I believe it. Gulden is not a man. The worst of us have a conscience. We can tell right from wrong. But Gulden can"t. He"s beneath morals. He has no conception of manhood, such as I"ve seen in the lowest of outcasts. That cave story with the girl--that betrays him. He belongs back in the Stone Age. He"s a thing.... And here on the border, if he wants, he can have all the more power because of what he is."
"Kells, don"t let him see me!" entreated Joan.
The bandit appeared not to catch the fear in Joan"s tone and look. She had been only a listener. Presently with preoccupied and gloomy mien, he left her alone.
Joan did not see him again, except for glimpses under the curtain, for three days. She kept the door barred and saw no one except Bate Wood, who brought her meals. She paced her cabin like a caged creature. During this period few men visited Kells"s cabin, and these few did not remain long. Joan was aware that Kells was not always at home. Evidently he was able to go out. Upon the fourth day he called to her and knocked for admittance. Joan let him in, and saw that he was now almost well again, once more cool, easy, cheerful, with his strange, forceful air.
"Good day, Joan. You don"t seem to be pining for your--negligent husband."
He laughed as if he mocked himself, but there was gladness in the very sight of her, and some indefinable tone in his voice that suggested respect.
"I didn"t miss you," replied Joan. Yet it was a relief to see him.
"No, I imagine not," he said, dryly. "Well, I"ve been busy with men--with plans. Things are working out to my satisfaction. Red Pearce got around Gulden. There"s been no split. Besides, Gulden rode off.
Someone said he went after a little girl named Brander. I hope he gets shot.... Joan, we"ll be leaving Cabin Gulch soon. I"m expecting news that"ll change things. I won"t leave you here. You"ll have to ride the roughest trails. And your clothes are in tatters now. You"ve got to have something to wear."
"I should think so," replied Joan, fingering the thin, worn, ragged habit that had gone to pieces. "The first brush I ride through will tear this off."
"That"s annoying," said Kells, with exasperation at himself. "Where on earth can I get you a dress? We"re two hundred miles from everywhere.
The wildest kind of country.... Say, did you ever wear a man"s outfit?"
"Ye-es, when I went prospecting and hunting with my uncle," she replied, reluctantly.
Suddenly he had a daring and brilliant smile that changed his face completely. He rubbed his palms together. He laughed as if at a huge joke. He cast a measuring glance up and down her slender form.
"Just wait till I come back," he said.
He left her and she heard him rummaging around in the pile of trappings she had noted in a corner of the other cabin. Presently he returned carrying a bundle. This he unrolled on the bed and spread out the articles.
"Dandy Dale"s outfit," he said, with animation. "Dandy was a would-be knight of the road. He dressed the part. But he tried to hold up a stage over here and an unappreciative pa.s.senger shot him. He wasn"t killed outright. He crawled away and died. Some of my men found him and they fetched his clothes. That outfit cost a fortune. But not a man among us could get into it."
There was a black sombrero with heavy silver band; a dark-blue blouse and an embroidered buckskin vest; a belt full of cartridges and a pearl-handled gun; trousers of corduroy; high-top leather boots and gold mounted spurs, all of the finest material and workmanship.
"Joan, I"ll make you a black mask out of the rim of a felt hat, and then you"ll be grand." He spoke with the impulse and enthusiasm of a boy.