At last Hooven"s unpainted house, beneath the enormous live oak tree, came in sight. Across the Lower Road, breaking through fences and into the yard around the house, thundered the Leaguers. Magnus was waiting for them.
The riders dismounted, hardly less exhausted than their horses.
"Why, where"s all the men?" Annixter demanded of Magnus.
"Broderson is here and Cutter," replied the Governor, "no one else. I thought YOU would bring more men with you."
"There are only nine of us."
"And the six hundred Leaguers who were going to rise when this happened!" exclaimed Garnett, bitterly.
"Rot the League," cried Annixter. "It"s gone to pot--went to pieces at the first touch."
"We have been taken by surprise, gentlemen, after all," said Magnus.
"Totally off our guard. But there are eleven of us. It is enough."
"Well, what"s the game? Has the marshal come? How many men are with him?"
"The United States marshal from San Francisco," explained Magnus, "came down early this morning and stopped at Guadalajara. We learned it all through our friends in Bonneville about an hour ago. They telephoned me and Mr. Broderson. S. Behrman met him and provided about a dozen deputies. Delaney, Ruggles, and Christian joined them at Guadalajara.
They left Guadalajara, going towards Mr. Annixter"s ranch house on Quien Sabe. They are serving the writs in ejectment and putting the dummy buyers in possession. They are armed. S. Behrman is with them."
"Where are they now?"
"Cutter is watching them from the Long Trestle. They returned to Guadalajara. They are there now."
"Well," observed Gethings, "From Guadalajara they can only go to two places. Either they will take the Upper Road and go on to Osterman"s next, or they will take the Lower Road to Mr. Derrick"s."
"That is as I supposed," said Magnus. "That is why I wanted you to come here. From Hooven"s, here, we can watch both roads simultaneously."
"Is anybody on the lookout on the Upper Road?"
"Cutter. He is on the Long Trestle."
"Say," observed Hooven, the instincts of the old-time soldier stirring him, "say, dose feller pretty demn schmart, I tink. We got to put some picket way oudt bei der Lower Roadt alzoh, und he tek dose gla.s.sus Mist"r Ennixt"r got bei um. Say, look at dose irregation ditsch.
Dot ditsch he run righd across BOTH dose road, hey? Dat"s some fine entrenchment, you bedt. We fighd um from dose ditsch."
In fact, the dry irrigating ditch was a natural trench, admirably suited to the purpose, crossing both roads as Hooven pointed out and barring approach from Guadalajara to all the ranches save Annixter"s--which had already been seized.
Gethings departed to join Cutter on the Long Trestle, while Phelps and Harran, taking Annixter"s field gla.s.ses with them, and mounting their horses, went out towards Guadalajara on the Lower Road to watch for the marshal"s approach from that direction.
After the outposts had left them, the party in Hooven"s cottage looked to their weapons. Long since, every member of the League had been in the habit of carrying his revolver with him. They were all armed and, in addition, Hooven had his rifle. Presley alone carried no weapon.
The main room of Hooven"s house, in which the Leaguers were now a.s.sembled, was barren, poverty-stricken, but tolerably clean. An old clock ticked vociferously on a shelf. In one corner was a bed, with a patched, faded quilt. In the centre of the room, straddling over the bare floor, stood a pine table. Around this the men gathered, two or three occupying chairs, Annixter sitting sideways on the table, the rest standing.
"I believe, gentlemen," said Magnus, "that we can go through this day without bloodshed. I believe not one shot need be fired. The Railroad will not force the issue, will not bring about actual fighting. When the marshal realises that we are thoroughly in earnest, thoroughly determined, I am convinced that he will withdraw."
There were murmurs of a.s.sent.
"Look here," said Annixter, "if this thing can by any means be settled peaceably, I say let"s do it, so long as we don"t give in."
The others stared. Was this Annixter who spoke--the Hotspur of the League, the quarrelsome, irascible fellow who loved and sought a quarrel? Was it Annixter, who now had been the first and only one of them all to suffer, whose ranch had been seized, whose household possessions had been flung out into the road?
"When you come right down to it," he continued, "killing a man, no matter what he"s done to you, is a serious business. I propose we make one more attempt to stave this thing off. Let"s see if we can"t get to talk with the marshal himself; at any rate, warn him of the danger of going any further. Boys, let"s not fire the first shot. What do you say?"
The others agreed unanimously and promptly; and old Broderson, tugging uneasily at his long beard, added:
"No--no--no violence, no UNNECESSARY violence, that is. I should hate to have innocent blood on my hands--that is, if it IS innocent. I don"t know, that S. Behrman--ah, he is a--a--surely he had innocent blood on HIS head. That d.y.k.e affair, terrible, terrible; but then d.y.k.e WAS in the wrong--driven to it, though; the Railroad did drive him to it. I want to be fair and just to everybody."
"There"s a team coming up the road from Los Muertos," announced Presley from the door.
"Fair and just to everybody," murmured old Broderson, wagging his head, frowning perplexedly. "I don"t want to--to--to harm anybody unless they harm me."
"Is the team going towards Guadalajara?" enquired Garnett, getting up and coming to the door.
"Yes, it"s a Portuguese, one of the garden truck men."
"We must turn him back," declared Osterman. "He can"t go through here.
We don"t want him to take any news on to the marshal and S. Behrman."
"I"ll turn him back," said Presley.
He rode out towards the market cart, and the others, watching from the road in front of Hooven"s, saw him halt it. An excited interview followed. They could hear the Portuguese expostulating volubly, but in the end he turned back.
"Martial law on Los Muertos, isn"t it?" observed Osterman. "Steady all,"
he exclaimed as he turned about, "here comes Harran."
Harran rode up at a gallop. The others surrounded him.
"I saw them," he cried. "They are coming this way. S. Behrman and Ruggles are in a two-horse buggy. All the others are on horseback. There are eleven of them. Christian and Delaney are with them. Those two have rifles. I left Hooven watching them."
"Better call in Gethings and Cutter right away," said Annixter. "We"ll need all our men."
"I"ll call them in," Presley volunteered at once. "Can I have the buckskin? My pony is about done up."
He departed at a brisk gallop, but on the way met Gethings and Cutter returning. They, too, from their elevated position, had observed the marshal"s party leaving Guadalajara by the Lower Road. Presley told them of the decision of the Leaguers not to fire until fired upon.
"All right," said Gethings. "But if it comes to a gun-fight, that means it"s all up with at least one of us. Delaney never misses his man."
When they reached Hooven"s again, they found that the Leaguers had already taken their position in the ditch. The plank bridge across it had been torn up. Magnus, two long revolvers lying on the embankment in front of him, was in the middle, Harran at his side. On either side, some five feet intervening between each man, stood the other Leaguers, their revolvers ready. Dabney, the silent old man, had taken off his coat.
"Take your places between Mr. Osterman and Mr. Broderson," said Magnus, as the three men rode up. "Presley," he added, "I forbid you to take any part in this affair."
"Yes, keep him out of it," cried Annixter from his position at the extreme end of the line. "Go back to Hooven"s house, Pres, and look after the horses," he added. "This is no business of yours. And keep the road behind us clear. Don"t let ANY ONE come near, not ANY ONE, understand?"
Presley withdrew, leading the buckskin and the horses that Gethings and Cutter had ridden. He fastened them under the great live oak and then came out and stood in the road in front of the house to watch what was going on.
In the ditch, shoulder deep, the Leaguers, ready, watchful, waited in silence, their eyes fixed on the white shimmer of the road leading to Guadalajara.