"McCoppet--wanted you detained, the day they--jumped your claim.
Lawrence--he run the line out crooked fer--twenty thousand bucks.
Culver was put away by Cayuse, mebbe because--he was square--Larry wasn"t sure---- I guess--that"s all, but it ought to--help you some."
He dropped himself down and languidly closed his eyes.
"Good heavens, man," said Van, still staring, "are you sure of what you"re saying?"
There was no response for a time. Then Barger murmured:
"Excuse me, Van Buren, fer--bein" so d.a.m.n--long--dyin"."
"You"re not dying, Matt--go to sleep," said. Van. "I"ll be here beside you, all night."
He sat down, got up and sat down again, stirred to the depths of his being by the story the man had revealed. Beth"s money, then, had gone for this, to bribe a Government agent! A tumult of mad, revengeful thoughts went roaring through his mind. A grim look came upon his face, and fire was flashing from his eyes. He arose and sat down a dozen times, all the while looking at the worn, broken figure that lay on the earth at his feet. What an ill-used, gaunt, and exhausted frame it was, loose and abandoned by the strength that once had filled it with vigor and might. What a boyish look had come at last upon the haggard, sunken face!
The night wind was chill. He had forgotten for himself, but he thought of it now for Barger. He laid his blankets on the inert limbs and up around the shoulders.
Perhaps another hour went by, with Van still sleepless by his charge.
The convict stirred.
"Van--Buren," he said in a hoa.r.s.e, rattling whisper, "Van----"
Van was instantly alert.
"h.e.l.lo."
Barger partially raised his hand.
"So long,"--and the hand dropped downward.
"Matt!" answered Van, quickly kneeling on the earth. He caught up the fingers, felt their faint attempt to close upon his own--and the man on the ground was dead.
CHAPTER XLIII
PREPARING THE NET FOR A DRAW
Beth Kent, as the sun was going from the sky, fell down three times in utter exhaustion. She and the others had come to within a mile of the "Laughing Water" claim. Pratt was far away in the rear, on the last of his stations. Glen, in the lead, was forging ahead on a second supply of strength. Hidden from the sight of either of the others, Beth was ready for collapse.
But onward crept that merciless ribbon of steel that Glen was dragging.
Three times the girl rose and stumbled onward, up the last acclivity.
Her legs were like lead. She stubbed her toes on every rock. She could almost have cried with the aches of weariness. It seemed as if that terrible hill unfolded new and steeper slopes for every one she climbed.
She went down repeatedly. To have lain there, hungry, but indifferent to anything but sleep, would have been the most heavenly thing she could conceive. She was literally falling up the hill, with all her machinery slumping towards inertia, when finally Pratt, on his distant hill, sent the signal for Glen to halt.
"All right, Beth--rest!" he called from the end of the chain, and she sank at once in her tracks.
It was almost dusk when Pratt came toiling up the hill. Glen had come down to Beth"s position. He too was thoroughly tired. How the line had come out was more than he could care. But Beth, with the last of her flickering strength, arose to hasten Pratt.
"No use in the three of us being seen," he said, planting his transit in the sand, but making no effort to adjust it to a level. "That ridge there overlooks the claim. I"ll climb up alone and take a bird"s-eye view."
"We"re as near as that!" cried Beth in startled surprise. "Then what do you think? Does the line include the claim?"
"I"ll have to look around from the ridge," repeated Pratt with aggravating caution. "You can wait ten minutes here."
He started laboriously up the slope--and Beth stood tensely watching.
She thought she saw him top the ridge, but he disappeared from sight.
The darkness was gathering swiftly in all the desert world. The girl"s excitement and impatience grew with a new flare up of energy. To think that Searle was so near at hand, with fate a-hover in the air, sent her pulses bounding madly.
It seemed as if Pratt would never return from the hill. She could almost have dashed to the summit herself, to learn the outcome of their labors. Then at last, from a small ravine, not far away, he appeared in his leisurely manner.
Beth ran along the slope to meet him.
"Well?" she cried. "What did you find?"
He smiled. "Unless I"m crazy, Lawrence is either a liar or a fool.
That claim is safe outside the line by nearly an eighth of a mile."
"Oh!" cried the girl. She collapsed on the ground and sobbed in exhaustion and joy.
She could go no further. She had kept her strength and courage up for this, and now, inside the goal, she cared not what might happen.
They camped upon the spot. The man with the car, which had taken them out, had been ordered to meet them down at Reservation town--the mushroom camp which had sprung into being no more than a week before the rush. All the way down there Pratt continued alone. He and the chauffeur, long after dark, returned with provisions and blankets.
They had driven the car as far as possible, then climbed the ravine on foot.
At nine o"clock Beth was asleep beneath the stars, dreaming of her meeting with Van.
At daylight all were up, and in the chill of the rarified mountain air were walking stiffly to the car. The chauffeur, who had slept in his machine, promised breakfast by eight at Mrs. d.i.c.k"s. He tore up the road and he tore away their breath, but he came into Goldite half an hour ahead of time, and claimed he had driven "pretty slow."
Meantime, the night in the mining-camp had brought no untoward excitement. Van, at his tent, with the covered figure lying on the earth, had welcomed his partners at midnight with the news that a "homeless and worn-out pilgrim of the desert" had come desiring rest.
He was sleeping hard; he was not to be disturbed. In the morning he was scheduled to depart.
Tired to utter unconcern, the three old worthies made their beds with Van beside the man at peace. And the whole five slept with a trust and abandon to nature that balanced the living and the dead.
Van was out, had eaten his breakfast, and was waiting for the sheriff when Beth and her party returned. He beheld them, felt his heart lift upward like a lever in his breast, at sight of Beth in her male attire, and grimly shut his jaws.
Christler, the sheriff, arrived a little after eight, bringing in a wounded deputy. Barger had shot him in the thigh. Van did not wait for his man to eat, but urged him home to his bachelor shack and sat him down to a drink of something strong, with a cracker to munch for a meal.
Christler was tired. He was somewhat stout; he had been in the saddle almost constantly for weeks, and now, as a victim of chagrin and disappointment, he was utterly dejected and done.
"Good Lord, Van, ain"t a man to breathe--hain"t he got no rights to live, whatsoever?" he inquired. "You"d chase me up, or somebody would, if I was in my grave."
"You"d break out of your grave," Van told him, "if you knew what"s going on."
Christler looked dubious, draining at his gla.s.s.