In the days that followed she thought of him as she saw him last, a minute fleck on the plain. She thought of him when the rains fell, and prayed that he might not fall ill of fever or be whelmed by a stream. He seemed so little and weak when measured against that mighty and merciless wall of snow. Then when the cold white storms came and the plain was hid in the fury of wind and sleet, she shuddered and thought of him camped beside a rock, cold and hungry. She thought of him lying with a broken leg, helpless, while his faithful beasts pawed the ground and whinnied their distress. She spoke of these things once or twice, but her father merely smiled.
"Mose can take care of himself, daughter, don"t you worry."
Months pa.s.sed before they had a letter from him, and when it came it bore the postmark of Durango.
"DEAR FRIENDS: I should a-written before, but the fact is I hate to write and then I"ve been on the move all the time. I struck through the gap and angled down to Taos, a Pueblo Indian town, where I stayed for a while--then went on down the Valley to Sante Fee. Then I hunted up Delmar. He was glad to see me, but he looks old. He had a h.e.l.l of a time after I left. It wasn"t the way the papers had it--but he won out all right. He sold his sheep and quit. He said he got tired of shooting men. I stayed with him--he"s got a nice family--two girls--and then I struck out into the Pueblo country. These little brown chaps interest me but they"re a different breed o" cats from the Ogallalahs. Everybody talks about the Snake Dance at Moki, so I"m angling out that way. I"m going to do a little cow punchin" for a man in Apache County and go on to the Dance. I"m going through the Navajoe reservation. I stand in with them. They"ve heard of me some way--through the Utes I reckon."
The accounts of the Snake Dance contained mention of "Black Mose," who kept a band of toughs from interfering with the dance. His wonderful marksmanship was spoken of. He did not write till he reached Flagstaff.
His letter was very brief. "I"m going into the Grand Canon for a few days, then I go to work on a ranch south of here for the winter. In the spring I"m going over the range into California."
When they heard of him next he was deputy marshal of a mining town, and the Denver papers contained long despatches about his work in clearing the town of desperadoes. After that they lost track of him altogether--but Cora never gave him up. "He"ll round the big circle one o" these days--and when he does he"ll find us all waiting, won"t he, pet?" and she drew little Pink close to her hungry heart.
PART III
CHAPTER XV
THE EAGLE COMPLETES HIS CIRCLE
All days were Sunday in the great mining camp of Wagon Wheel, so far as legal enactment ran, but on Sat.u.r.day night, in following ancient habit, the men came out of their prospect holes on the high, gra.s.sy hills, or threw down the pick in their "overland tunnels," or deep shafts and rabbitlike burrows, and came to camp to buy provisions, to get their mail, and to look upon, if not to share, the vice and tumult of the town.
The streets were filled from curb to curb with thousands of men in mud-stained coats and stout-laced boots. They stood in the gutters and in the middle of the street to talk (in subdued voices) of their claims.
There was little noise. The slowly-moving streams of shoppers or amus.e.m.e.nt seekers gave out no sudden shouting. A deep murmur filled the air, but no angry curse was heard, no whooping. In a land where the revolver is readier than the fist men are wary of quarrel, careful of abuse, and studiously regardful of others.
There were those who sought vice, and it was easily found. The saloons were packed with thirsty souls, and from every third door issued the click of dice and whiz of whirling b.a.l.l.s in games of chance.
Every hotel barroom swarmed with persuasive salesmen bearing lumps of ore with which to entice unwary capital. All the talk was of "pay-streaks," "leads," "float," "whins," and "up-raises," while in the midst of it, battling to save souls, the zealous Salvation Army band paraded to and fro with frenzied beating of drums. Around and through all this, listening with confused ears, gazing with wide, solemn eyes, were hundreds of young men from the middle East, farmers" sons, cowboys, mountaineers, and miners. To them it was an awesome city, this lurid camp, a wonder and an allurement to dissipation.
To Mose, fresh from the long trail, it was irritating and wearying. He stood at the door of a saloon, superbly unconscious of his physical beauty, a somber dream in his eyes, a statuesque quality in his pose. He wore the wide hat of the West, but his neat, dark coat, though badly wrinkled, was well cut, and his crimson tie and dark blue shirt were handsomely decorative. His face was older, sterner, and sadder than when he faced Mary three years before. No trace of boyhood was in his manner. Seven years of life on the long trail and among the mountain peaks had taught him silence, self-restraint, and had also deepened his native melancholy. He had ridden into Wagon Wheel from the West, eager to see the great mining camp whose fame had filled the world.
As he stood so, with the light of the setting sun in his face, the melancholy of a tiger in his eyes, a woman in an open barouche rode by.
Her roving glance lighted upon his figure and rested there. "Wait!" she called to her driver, and from the shadow of her silken parasol she studied the young man"s absorbed and motionless figure. He on his part perceived only a handsomely dressed woman looking out over the crowd.
The carriage interested him more than the woman. It was a magnificent vehicle, the finest he had ever seen, and he wondered how it happened to be there on the mountain top.
A small man with a large head stepped from the crowd and greeted the woman with a military salute. In answer to a question, the small man turned and glanced toward Mose. The woman bowed and drove on, and Mose walked slowly up the street, lonely and irresolute. At the door of a gambling house he halted and looked in. A young lad and an old man were seated together at a roulette table, and around them a ring of excited and amused spectators stood. Mose entered and took a place in the circle. The boy wore a look of excitement quite painful to see, and he placed his red and white chips with nervous, blundering, and ineffectual gestures, whereas the older man smiled benignly over his gla.s.ses and placed his single dollar chip each time with humorous decision. Each time he won. "This is for a new hat," he said, and the next time, "This is for a box at the theater." The boy, with his gains in the circle of his left arm, was desperately absorbed. No smile, no jest was possible to him.
Mose felt a hand on his shoulder, and turning, found himself face to face with the small man who had touched his hat to the woman in the carriage. The stranger"s countenance was stern in its outlines, and his military cut of beard added to his grimness, but his eyes were surrounded by fine lines of good humour.
"Stranger, I"d like a word with you."
Mose followed him to a corner, supposing him to be a man with mines to sell, or possibly a confidence man.
"Stranger, where you from?"
"From the Snake country," replied Mose.
"What"s your little game here?"
Mose was angered at his tone. "None of your business."
The older man flushed, and the laugh went out of his eyes. "I"ll make it my business," he said grimly. "I"ve seen you somewhere before, but I can"t place you. You want to get out o" town to-night; you"re here for no man"s good--you"ve got a "graft.""
Mose struck him with the flat of his left hand, and, swift as a rattlesnake"s stroke, covered him with his revolver. "Wait right where you are," he said, and the man became rigid. "I came here as peaceable as any man," Mose went on, "but I don"t intend to be ridden out of town by a jacka.s.s like you."
The other man remained calm. "If you"ll kindly let me unb.u.t.ton my coat, I"ll show you my star; I"m the city marshal."
"Be quiet," commanded Mose; "put up your hands!"
Mose was aware of an outcry, then a silence, then a rush.
From beneath his coat, quick as a flash of light from a mirror, he drew a second revolver. His eyes flashed around the room. For a moment all was silent, then a voice called, "What"s all this, Haney?"
"Keep them quiet," said Mose, still menacing the officer.
"Boys, keep back," pleaded the marshal.
"The man that starts this ball rolling will be sorry," said Mose, searching the crowd with sinister eyes. "If you"re the marshal, order these men back to the other end of the room."
"Boys, get back," commanded the marshal. With shuffling feet the crowd retreated. "Shut the door, somebody, and keep the crowd out."
The doors were shut, and the room became as silent as a tomb.
"Now," said Mose, "is it war or peace?"
"Peace," said the marshal.
"All right." Mose dropped the point of his revolver.
The marshal breathed easier. "Stranger, you"re a little the swiftest man I"ve met since harvest; would you mind telling me your name?"
"Not a bit. My friends call me Mose Harding."
""Black Mose"!" exclaimed the marshal, and a mutter of low words and a laugh broke from the listening crowd. Haney reached out his hand. "I hope you won"t lay it up against me." Mose shook his hand and the marshal went on: "To tell the honest truth, I thought you were one of Lightfoot"s gang. I couldn"t place you. Of course I see now--I have your picture at the office--the drinks are on me." He turned with a smile to the crowd: "Come, boys--irrigate and get done with it. It"s a horse on me, sure."
Taking the mildest liquor at the bar, Mose drank to further friendly relations, while the marshal continued to apologize. "You see, we"ve been overrun with "rollers" and "skin-game" men, and lately three expresses have been held up by Lightfoot"s gang, and so I"ve been facing up every suspicious immigrant. I"ve had to do it--in your case I was too brash--I"ll admit that--but come, let"s get away from the mob. Come over to my office, I want to talk with you."
Mose was glad to escape the curious eyes of the throng. While his life was in the balance, he saw and heard everything hostile, nothing more--now, he perceived the crowd to be disgustingly inquisitive. Their winks, and grins, and muttered words annoyed him.
"Open the door--much obliged, Kelly," said the marshal to the man who kept the door. Kelly was a powerfully built man, dressed like a miner, in broad hat, loose gray shirt, and laced boots, and Mose admiringly studied him.
"This is not "Rocky Mountain Kelly"?" he asked.
Kelly smiled. "The same; "Old Man Kelly" they call me now."
Mose put out his hand. "I"m glad to know ye. I"ve heard Tom Gavin speak of you."