McCoppet arose, plunged his hands in his pockets, and paced up and down reflectively.
"Someways I"m glad Van Buren"s going," he said. "I"ve been trying to figure how I could play the game to have him away when we come to take the trick. He"s hostile in a fight. I guess it"s all right. Don"t need you here. You can copper any possible harm down there at Starlight, and meantime I"ll see if there"s any known way of delaying Van Buren"s return."
"But how am I going to get down there and back?" said Bostwick, intent upon the need for haste. "I can"t get around without a car."
"Don"t get tropical," said McCoppet calmly. "I can get you a car in fifteen minutes. It ain"t as good as yours, but we needed the one that was surest to keep on its legs. If you ain"t got anything more on your mind, I want to chase around for a lumberman--a friend of mine--before he gits any drunker."
Bostwick arose.
"Arrange for that car to take me to-night, after dinner. I think that"s all."
He repaired to his room to attend to a dozen small affairs, then went once more to Beth"s. She was not in the least surprised to hear him say he meant to return to Starlight and to Glen that night, on business of importance to them all, but she did not believe him in the least.
He remained in the hope of entrapping her into some sort of self-betrayal as to what she had recently done, but without avail.
The hour that he spent at Mrs. d.i.c.k"s was dull for them both--dull and distasteful to the girl, growing so rapidly to hate and distrust him, dull and aggravating to Bostwick, with jealousy increasing upon him.
His one consolation lay in the fact that in less than two days Van Buren would be no better off than a pauper at best with scarcely a shelter for his head.
One of the interesting and vital chapters in the whole affair was meanwhile in McCoppet"s hands and receiving his attention. Trimmer had been captured, far more sober than the gambler could have hoped. The two were in the den once more, the lumberman smoking an excellent cigar as if it had been a stick of candy.
McCoppet came to his subject promptly.
"Look here, Larry," he said, "you know Van Buren when you see him."
Trimmer glanced up sharply, ready in an instant to resent what he felt to partake of the nature of a personal affront.
"Don"t git funny, Opal. If ever I fight Van Buren when I"m sober I"ll eat him alive. I was drunk when he licked me, and you know it!"
McCoppet leaned back in his chair and half closed his eyes.
"I didn"t know but what you"d like to sober up and lick him."
Trimmer stared, shifted uneasily in his seat, and demanded:
"Where? Where is he at?"
"He"s going to Starlight to-morrow--from up by the reservation--from his claim. If he don"t git back for a couple of days--I could make it worth your while; and you could cash in for that time he licked you when you wasn"t in condition."
Again Trimmer fidgeted. "I guess he licked me fair enough. I admit he"s all right in a sc.r.a.p. I ain"t holdin" nuthin" agin him.
Goldite"s good enough fer me."
McCoppet knew the creature was afraid to meet his man--that Trimmer"s attack on Van Buren, once before, had been planned with much deliberation, had amounted to an ambush, in point of fact, resulting in disaster to the bully.
"I counted on you to help me, Larry," he said, drumming on the table with his fingers. "You"re the only man of your kind with brains in all the camp."
Trimmer had smoked his cigar to within an inch of his mouth. He extinguished the fire and chewed up the stump voraciously.
"Say!" he suddenly e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, leaping to his feet and coming around the table, "I can fix him all right," and he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Barger would give up a leg to git a show at Van Buren!"
"Barger?" echoed McCoppet. "Matt? But they got him! Got "em all."
"Got nuthin"," the lumberman e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "What"s the good of all these lyin" papers when I seen Matt myself, readin" the piece about him goin" back to the pen?"
McCoppet rose, went to the window, and returned again.
"Larry, you"re all right," he said. "Where"s Barger now?"
Trimmer winked. "That"s his business, and mine."
"All right--that"s all right," agreed the gambler. "Wouldn"t he take it as a favor if you pa.s.sed him some money and the word about Van Buren"s hike to Starlight?"
Trimmer got out a new cigar, lit up, and began to smoke as before.
"I was goin" to pa.s.s him some of mine," he confessed. "Yours will suit me just as good."
"Five hundred ought to help him some," said the gambler. "Come out to the bar."
At dark the lumberman left the camp on foot, heading for the mountains.
Bostwick departed in the borrowed car at eight. The whole town was ablaze with light, and tumultuous with sound. Glare and disturbance together, however, only faintly symbolized the excitement and fever in the camp. A thousand men were making final preparations for the rush so soon to come--the mad stampede upon the reservation ground, barely more than a day removed.
Miners with outfits, gamblers with their paraphernalia, saloon men with case on case of liquors, a.s.sayers, lawyers, teamsters, cooks--even a half dozen women--comprised the heterogeneous army making ready for the charge. The streets were filled with horses, men, and mules. The saloons were jammed to suffocation. Musical discord filled the air.
Only the land, the silent old hills, the ancient, burned-out furnace of gold, was absolutely calm. Overhead a few clouds blurred the sky.
Beyond them the eternal march of the stars proceeded in the majesty of s.p.a.ce, with billions of years in which to fulfil the cosmic cycle of existence.
CHAPTER x.x.xII
THE HARDSHIPS OF THE TRAIL
In the night, far out to the northward, a storm descended like a cataclysm. Torrential rains were poured upon the hills from a cloudburst exceptionally savage. Only the scattered outposts, as it were, of the storm were blown as far as Goldite. A sprinkle of rain that dried at once was the most those mountains received.
Van made an early start from the "Laughing Water" claim, to deliver Beth"s letter in Starlight. Her note to himself he read once more as his pony jogged down the descent.
"Dear Mr. Van: I wonder if I dare to ask a favor--from one who has done so much already? My brother, in Starlight, is ill. He has hurt himself, I do not know how badly. A letter I sent has never been received, and I am worried. The effort I made to see him--well--at least, I"m glad I made the effort. But meantime, what of poor Glen?
Some little fear I have may be groundless. I shall therefore keep it to myself--but I have it, perhaps because I am a woman. I must know the truth about my brother--how he is--what has been happening. It is far more important than I dare confess. I have written him a letter and sent it to you in the hope you may not find it impossible to carry it to Glen in person. If I am asking too much, please do not hesitate to say so. I am sure you will be friendly enough for that--to say "no"
if need be to another friend--_your_ friend, BETH KENT."
She did not regret that desert experience--that was almost enough for him to know! He had lived in a glow since that wonderful night--and this letter provided another. He rode like a proud young crusader of old, with his head in a region of sunshine and gold, his vision transfixed by a face. Her love had become his holy grail--and for that he would ride to death itself.
His way he shortened, or thought to shorten, by dropping down from the reservation heights to the new-made town a mile below. He came upon the place abruptly, after dipping once into a canyon, and looked with amazement on the place. In the past twelve hours it had doubled in size and increased twenty-fold in its fever. The face of the desert was literally alive with men and animals. Half of Goldite and practically all of a dozen lesser camps were there. Confusion, discomfort, and distraction seemed hopelessly enthroned. The "rush"
was written in men"s faces, in their actions, in their baggage, words, and rising temperature.
A dozen stalwart stampeders pounced upon Van like wolves. They wanted to know what he thought of the reservation, where to go, whether or not there was any more ground like that of the "Laughing Water" claim, what he had heard from his Indian friends, and what he would take for his placer. The crowd about him rapidly increased. Men in a time of excitement such as this flock as madly as sheep whenever one may lead.
Anything is news--any man is of interest who has in his pocket a piece of rock, or has in his eye a wink. No man is willing to be left outside. He must know all there is to be known.