"Gone!" she repeated, staring at him blankly; "where have they gone?"
"Macdonald"s doin" it; that man"s got brainds," the cowboy yielded, with what he knew to be unlawful admiration of the enemy"s parts.
"He"s herdin" "em back in the hills where they"ve built a regular fort, they say. Some of us fellers caught up to a few of the stragglers last night, and that"s when I got this arm put on me."
"Have any of the rustlers been killed?"
"No," he admitted, disgustedly, "they ain"t! We"ve burnt all the shacks we come to, and cut their fences, but they all got slick and clean away, down to the littlest kid. But the boss"s after "em," he added, with brisk hopefulness, "and you"ll have better news by mornin"."
Chadron himself was the next rider to arrive at that anxious house, and he came as the messenger of disaster. He arrived between midnight and morning, his horse spur-gashed, driven to the limit, himself sunken-eyed from his anxiety and hard pursuit of his elusive enemy.
Mrs. Chadron was asleep when he entered the living-room where Frances was keeping lonely watch before the chimney fire.
"What"s happened?" she asked, hastening to meet him.
Chadron stood there gray and dusty, his big hat down hard on his head, his black eyes shooting inquiry into the shadowed room.
"Where is she?" he whispered.
"Upstairs, asleep--I"ve only just been able to persuade her to lie down and close her eyes."
"Well, there"s no use to wake her up for bad news."
"You haven"t found Nola?"
"I know right where she is. I could put my hand on her if I could reach her."
"Then why--?"
"h.e.l.l!" said Chadron, bursting into a fire of pa.s.sion, "why can"t I fly like an eagle? Young woman, I"ve got to tell you I"ve been beat and tricked for the first time in my life! They"ve got my men hemmed in, I tell you--they"ve got "em shut up in a canon as tight as if they was nailed in their coffins!"
If Chadron had been clearer of sight and mind in that moment of his towering anger, he would have seen her cheeks flush at his words, and her nostrils dilate and her breath come faster. But he was blind; his little varnish of delicacy was gone. He was just a ranting, roaring, dark-visaged brute with murder in his heart.
"That d.a.m.ned Macdonald done it, led "em into it like they was blind!
He"s a wolf, and he"s got the tricks of a wolf, he skulked ahead of "em with a little pack of his rustlers and led "em into his trap, then the men he had hid there and ready they popped up as thick as gra.s.s.
They"ve got fifty of my men shut up there where they can"t git to water, and where they can"t fight back. Now, what do you think of that?"
"I"ll tell you what I think," she said, throwing up her head, her eyes as quick and bright as water in the sun, "I think it"s the judgment of G.o.d! I glory in the trick Alan Macdonald played you, and I pray G.o.d he can shut your hired murderers there till the last red-handed devil dies of thirst!"
Chadron fell back from her a step, his eyes staring, his mouth open, his hand lifted as if to silence her. He stood so a moment, casting his wild look around, fearful that somebody else had heard her pa.s.sionate denunciation.
"What in the h.e.l.l do you mean?" he asked, crouching as he spoke, his teeth clenched, his voice smothered in his throat.
"I mean that I know you"re a murderer--and worse! You hired those men, like you hired Mark Thorn, to come here and murder those innocent men and their families!"
"Well, what if I did?" he said, standing straight again, his composure returning. "They"re thieves; they"ve been livin" off of my cattle for years. Anybody"s got a right to kill a rustler--that"s the only cure.
Well, they"ll not pen them men of mine up there till they crack for water, I"ll bet you a purty on that! I"m goin" after soldiers, and this time I"ll git "em, too."
"Soldiers!" said she, in amazement. "Will you ask the United States government to march troops here to save your hired a.s.sa.s.sins? Well, you"ll not get troops--if there"s anything that I can say against you to keep you from it!"
"You keep out of it, my little lady; you ain"t got no call to mix up with a bunch of brand-burnin" thieves!"
"They"re not thieves, and you know it! Macdonald never stole an animal from you or anybody else; none of the others ever did."
"What do you know about it?" sharply.
"I know it, as well as I know what"s in your mind about the troops.
You"ll go over father"s head to get them. Well, by the time he wires to the department the facts I"m going to lay before him, I"d like to see the color of the trooper you"ll get!"
"You"ll keep your mouth shut, and hold your finger out of this pie before you git it burnt!"
"I"ll not keep my mouth shut!" She began moving about the room, picking up her belongings. "I"m going to saddle my horse and go to the post right now, and the facts of your b.l.o.o.d.y business will be in Washington before morning."
"You"re not goin"--to the--post!" Chadron"s words were slow and hard.
He stood with his back to the door. "This house was opened to you as a friend, not as a traitor and a spy. You"re not goin" to put your foot outside of it into any business of mine, no matter which way you lean."
All day she had been dressed ready to mount and ride in any emergency, her hat, gloves and quirt on the table before the fireplace. In that sober habit she appeared smaller and less stately, and Saul Chadron, with his heavy shoulders against the closed door, towered above her, dark and angrily determined.
"I"m going to get my horse," said she, standing before him, waiting for him to quit the door.
"You"re goin" to stay right in this house, there"s where you"re goin"
to stay; and you"ll stay till I"ve cleaned out Macdonald and his gang, down to the last muddy-bellied wolf!"
"You"ll answer for detaining me here, sir!"
"There ain"t no man in this country that I answer to!" returned Chadron, not without dignity, for power undisputed for so long, and in such large affairs, had given him a certain manner of imperialism.
"You"ll find out where your mistake is, to your bitter cost, before many days have gone over your head. Your master is on the way; you"ll meet him yet."
"You might as well ca"m down, and take that hat off and make yourself easy, Miss Frances; you ain"t goin" to the post tonight."
"Open that door, Mr. Chadron! For the memory of your daughter, be a man!"
"I"m actin" for the best, Miss Frances." Chadron softened in speech, but unbent in will. "You must stay here till we settle them fellers. I ain"t got time to bring any more men up from Cheyenne--I"ve got to have help within the next twenty-four hours. You can see how your misplaced feelin"s might muddle and delay me, and hold off the troopers till they"ve killed off all of my men in that canon back yonder in the hills. It"s for the best, I tell you; you"ll see it that way before daylight."
"It"s a pity about your gallant cutthroats! It"s time the rest of this country knew something about the methods of you cattlemen up here, and the way you hara.s.s and hound and murder honest men that are trying to make homes!"
"Oh, Miss Frances! ca"m down, ca"m down!" coaxed Chadron, spreading his hands in conciliatory gesture, as if to smooth her troubled spirits, and calm her down by stroking her, like a cat.
"Now you want to call out the army to rescue that pack of villains, you want to enlist the government to help you murder more children!
Well, I"m a daughter of the army; I"m not going to stand around and see you pull it down to any such business as yours!"
"You"d better make up your mind to take it easy, now, Miss Frances.
Put down your hat and things, now, and run along off to bed like a good little girl."
She turned from him with a disdainful toss of the head, and walked across to the window where Mrs. Chadron"s great chair stood beside her table.
"Do you want it known that I was forced to leave your house by the window?" she asked, her hand on the sash.