Her face was drawn and wan, and the hand she extended to him as she bade him good night trembled visibly. He took it in both his and for an immortal second, happiness was very close to those two young people, had they only known. But Cupid was ever a mischievous imp and one of his arrows had only glanced; he laughed derisively and turned his back, resolving to drive the shaft home mercilessly when time and longing had worn to the quick this big simpleton"s armor of obtuse vanity, as Dougla.s.s, restraining a sudden mad desire to take this woman in his arms and bruise her mouth with kisses, merely laid his lips respectfully on the little hand and deferentially held open the door.
At the entrance of the hotel he encountered Red McVey, coming to a.s.sure himself of the safety of the ladies. He had ridden out to meet them on their return journey, as was his wont, and, meeting the rider sent for a new mount for Mrs. Brevoort, had sent him on to the ranch with definite instructions, electing himself to ride through to town and as a matter of precaution, accompany them home the next day. The rider had not mentioned Dougla.s.s"s partic.i.p.ation in the mishap, and his presence was therefore a surprise to McVey, who was unaffectedly glad to see his best friend again.
At the Alcazar, a little later, Red had a sapient suggestion to make: "Befoh yuh squandah all thu gold yuh been diggin" outen yuh leetle ole mine, Ken, on this yeah mad-wateh outfit, yuh betteh lay yuh a leetle nest aig. Thu Vaughans want to sell theah ranch an" go east; reckon twenty thousand would buy it, cattle an" all. If yuh got that much denario in yuh jeans it"s a mighty big bahgaln."
"Twenty thousand!" said Dougla.s.s derisively. "You haven"t heard of a lone cowpuncher about my size that"s been holding up any banks or treasure trains, have you? Twenty thousand! Why say, you old redheaded funny-bone, I"m ashamed to tell you what I"d do for one-half that much money, honest I am. I"m just seven bones to the good and I"ve come down here to make it a couple of hundred, so"s I can eat till the gra.s.s comes. It"s next year I"ll be buying twenty thousand-dollar bargains; the gold is there, all right, and I"m going to find it.
"I bought out a claim up there," he continued, "and who do you think owned it first?" He chuckled at thought of the surprise he was going to spring on Red. But his mirth got a sudden check as McVey nodded his head knowingly.
"Yes, I heered about it; "twer Matlock, an" he"s been talkin" a heap disrespec"ful about how he broke it off in yuh, oveh to Cheyenne. Says as how he is seven hundred dollars nearer even with yuh. I didn"t think yuh"d let that coyote soak yuh thataway." His words were distinctly reproachful. Dougla.s.s smiled mysteriously.
"Don"t you worry about my soaking, old-timer. He"ll talk even more disrespectfully of himself about this time next year. That claim lies lengthwise along the top of the ridge, on both sides of it, and so const.i.tutes the "apex" of every vein below it throughout its full length. I am perfectly aware that he salted it for my benefit with ore taken from the Bonanza mine. I saw him doing it! But even if I hadn"t known all about it I wouldn"t have been fooled. The formation is entirely different from the Bonanza locality and any miner, let alone a professional mining engineer as I happen to be, would have tumbled to the salting at first sight of the stuff the fool scattered about the place. And that apex controls the vein that this came from!" He fished a bit of rock from his pocket and pa.s.sed it to Red, whose eyes bulged out as he looked. Through its center, from side to side, ran a ribbon of dull yellow metal as wide as one"s finger. Even to Red"s unmetallurgical eyes its ident.i.ty was plain.
"Gold! Pure gold!" he murmured with respectful awe. Then his big paw went out congratulatingly. "Shake! Gawd, ole man, but I"m sh.o.r.e glad!"
"What"s a "apex"?" he inquired of Dougla.s.s, some six hundred dollars winner for the night, as he left the faro table and walked arm in arm with him to the hotel. Dougla.s.s was very explicit in his explanation.
"Nearly all true fissure veins in these mountains are to all practical intents and purposes vertical; that is, they run straight up and down instead of lying horizontal. It naturally follows that, if they don"t pinch out before they get there, they come to the surface at or near the top of the hill. The courts have decided that a claim located on the top or "apex" of such veins controls them to whatever depth they may run; that is, an "apex" claim holds all the veins under it clean down to China! So the fellow who owns the "apex" practically owns the whole mountain for a s.p.a.ce as long as the length of his claim. To make sure of catching the apex of any veins in the hill I took up two extensions--one on each side of the claim I bought from Matlock and his partner, so that my holdings are fifteen hundred feet long by nine hundred feet wide; as the hill crest is almost a knife-edge in sharpness I cover every vein in it. And somewhere under the loose slide-rock on that hill lies the lode from which this comes! Do you _sabe_ now?"
Red gurgled his full comprehension. "Why yuh d.a.m.ned ole foxy gran"pa! I orter knowed thet yuh wouldn"t let thet swab do yuh! But howd" yuh come to be dealin" with Matlock? I been a heap oneasy in my mind about that."
"Well, it was this way: Two years ago his partner, old Eric Olsen, the big Swede that Coogan bought the Palace from, you know, saw me prospecting on that mountain and naturally figured that I had found some good indications of mineral there or I would not be fooling around. So they plotted to salt a claim or two and swindle me a bit, their own prospecting of the ground revealing nothing at all. The whole mountain side is covered with slide-rock and there is no mineral in sight. So, calculating that a fool cowpuncher knew nothing about geology and so would bite at anything he could see with his own eyes, they stole a lot of rich ore from the Bonanza, over at Breckenridge, and salted her up good! As it happened, they chose the very claim I wanted to file on, the apex, and so I had to buy them out. I never came in contact with either of them at all; I bought it through a mining broker. But for a whole day I watched them through my field gla.s.ses salting the ground. The funny part of it is that by a very little work--Olsen is a good man with a drill and powder, you know--they did enough linear shafting to enable me to patent the ground. And in the five months that I have been at work on the extensions I have done enough work on each of them to patent them also. That"s what I wanted this six hundred for. In ten days I"ll have them patented, too, and then no one can jump them or cause me any trouble when I come to work the leads which I am sure lie under my apex claims."
On the first of the new year he received his patents from Washington; and in the interim he had secured work that promised to put him in sufficient funds to prosecute developments on his mining claims.
CHAPTER XVI
THE SONG OF THE WOLF
The next morning, yielding to McVey"s urgencies, he consented to take part in the fall round-up just at hand, working in the interests of the C Bar outfit.
In the ensuing days of strenuous toil he worked harder than he had ever done before in all his range experience, spurred with the idea that he owed Carter some reparation for leaving his service so unceremoniously, and his staunch yeomanry appealed particularly to Anselm Brevoort, who had run out to see a rodeo and have a month"s hunt with Carter. As the best hunter among the C Bar men it naturally devolved upon Dougla.s.s, after the range work was done, to act as guide to Brevoort and the ladies, who developed a great interest in the sport.
It was upon one of these trips that Brevoort casually mentioned his temptation to buy a ranch as an investment, asking Dougla.s.s"s advice in the matter. The latter expressing some diffidence in the premises, Brevoort brought the point in issue to a definite focus by asking him if he thought the price asked for the Vaughan holdings, twenty thousand dollars, was excessive. Dougla.s.s thought it was excessively cheap, to the contrary, and said so emphatically.
"I would gladly give thirty for it if I had the money. There are more than twenty thousand dollars" worth of cattle in the VN brand without counting the ranch lands, which are worth nearly as much more. I think the Vaughans are loco to sell at the price!"
They had just finished luncheon and were lounging about a little spring enjoying their post-prandial pipes. Mrs. Brevoort was dallying with a dainty papelito and Grace was fussing with her pocket camera. Constance, gracefully exhaling a perfumed wraith, looked significantly to her husband, who gave an imperceptible nod and after a few thoughtful puffs came to the marrow of his subject.
"That"s Carter"s opinion, too, and McVey thinks it a great bargain, also. And as Mrs. Brevoort has taken a great fancy to the place for some reason, I think I will take it; that is, if I can secure some competent man to manage it for me. It would be a position of entire trust as I know nothing of the business and would necessarily be unable to give it scarcely any attention, my time being fully occupied otherwise. Are you open to such an engagement, Mr. Dougla.s.s?"
Grace Carter, her attention apparently riveted upon some intricate adjustment of her camera, scarcely breathed; Constance Brevoort, flicking the ash from her cigarette, never moved an eyelash. In the silence which followed the question, the champing of the horses on the grain in their nose-bags sounded to the women like a threshing machine.
"I am much flattered!" said Dougla.s.s, slowly. "But I am afraid that I will not be able to accept your offer. I have some mining interests to look after and--"
"But I understood you to say that you would gladly give thirty thousand dollars for it if you were in funds. That presupposes that you could find the time if necessary," said Breevort, with humorous insistence.
"Look here, Dougla.s.s, I am not in the habit of loading myself up with dubious investments, and I wouldn"t give ten dollars for the whole layout unless I can secure you as manager. In your hands I feel as though I would get fair returns on my outlay. I am frank to say I have "looked you up" as we say in town, and I want you to give it further consideration before turning my offer down. As to your mining interests, perhaps I could be of some a.s.sistance to you in that direction. Think it over; I won"t take no for an answer right off the reel."
As he was unsaddling the horses on their return that night, Miss Carter, coming with some sugar lumps for her pet roan, stopped long enough to shyly venture the hope that he would be able to become one of the neighbors.
"The sale of their ranch will allow Nellie Vaughan to achieve the dream of her life, an extended trip abroad, and one realizes so few of one s dreams in this life, you know! Besides, you are part of the environment to me. You really "belong"! I do hope you will accept Mr. Brevoort"s proposal--for Nellie"s sake!"
Very deliberately he hung the saddle on the rack. Then he came close to her, looking very masterful and Strong in the white moonlight.
"Nellie is to be congratulated on the thoughtfulness of her loving friends! But why should I, who am not one of them, take her into consideration at all? Promiscuous philanthropy is not my forte. The inducement is small. Have you nothing better to offer?"
"For our sakes, then;" she said ambiguously. "We will feel easier if you remain on this range, feel more secure in our lives and property." He flushed at the immensity of the compliment but ruthlessly forced her hand.
"That"s rather high, but still not enough. Bid again!"
"For _my_ sake!" It was nearly a whisper, but he heard. His eyes were triumphantly bright as, deftly eluding his curving arm, she sped swiftly away in the benign darkness. But it was a different glow from any which had ever irradiated them before: This was that of a soft, sweet tenderness that vaguely soothed even while strongly disconcerting him.
He was very quiet under the spell of it as he went into supper, and noticeably distrait during the game of chess which he subsequently played with Mrs. Brevoort in the big living room later on.
Beating him with ridiculous ease she declined another game, saying, laughingly: "You are not in form to-night, Mr. Dougla.s.s, and I like victories more difficult of achievement. Time was when I was content with mere winning, no matter how easy the attainment of that end. But this life out here has spoiled me for inanities forever. I have still the insatiable desire for conquest, but now I want to go up against odds and win, to bring into camp only opponents worthy of my steel."
"But that," he said, with conventional politeness, "is unthinkable.
There can be none entirely worthy of you!" She made a little _moue_ at the wearisome compliment.
"Why do all men say the same things! I"m quite sure I"ve heard something like that a hundred times before. In fact, I"ve come three thousand miles to get away from it. Say something original, please, even if it be something wicked!"
He looked at her queerly but she met his gaze with eyes as audacious as her words. Over at the piano Grace was playing with much tender feeling one of Chopin"s delicious nocturnes; before the open fireplace, Carter, Brevoort and McVey were discussing the possibilities of a well-managed ranch. The big room with its happy combination of modern and primitive amenities was the epitome of cheerfulness and comfort.
"Original? No man can say anything that is that. The possibilities were exhausted centuries ago. Even. Sin is stereotyped. There have always been women like you and men like me! What on earth could a man in my position say to a woman in yours that would be acceptably wicked?"
She smiled inscrutably; there was no abstraction in his manner now. "And yet you are so bold in other things!" she said, tauntingly. "To the brave all things are possible."
From far out in the darkness came the weird, long-drawn, mournful howl of some gaunt timber wolf foraging with his mate. It was very faint and the others, deeply engrossed in music and money matters, were unconscious of it. At its eerie repet.i.tion she laid her hand lightly on his arm.
"Listen! That is something new to me at all events. What can it be?"
"Only "the voice of one crying in the wilderness,"" he whimsically quoted. "A gray wolf calling to his mate." He laid his hand restrainingly on hers and leaned so close that his hot breath swept her cheek.
"I wonder how brave, or wicked, you could really be, you wonderful creature!" he murmured, insidiously. Her color heightened but she made no reply. The pulse was very distinct in the veins of the soft little warm hand lying tremulously beneath his. "Listen! There it is again, the call of the Wild, the voice out of the Primitive inviting strong souls back into the boundless realm of the great First Cause. Are you brave enough to accept it, to go out and be the most gloriously fierce wolf of them all?"
"Why," she exclaimed, with a labored vivacity that deceived neither of them, "that is certainly original!"
"With--say with me for a running mate!" His voice was scarcely audible.
"And that is decidedly wicked!" She gently withdrew her hand. But there was small reproof in the seductive smile playing about her red lips.
With the arrogance of the youthfully virile and strong he glanced contemptuously at the slight figure before the fireplace, old and worn and gray, debilitated with the fierce excesses of the chase after money; then he looked at the radiant beauty of the voluptuous young woman beside him and laughed grimly at the painful disparity between man and wife.
"And they say marriages are made in heaven!" To his credit be it said that he had intended the sneer to be mental only, but somehow or other, perhaps telepathically, the woman bent her head and a wave of crimson suffused her face.
"Wolves know no conventions," he went on with tense vehemence. "Out there in the wild soul calls to soul, body leaps to body in the fitness of true affinity. It is all Life, and therefore all Love; for Life is Love incarnated. The senile moralists of Humanity, that least fit race of all earthly animals, preach the equality of the s.e.xes. As applied to human beings that is a lie. It is only out there among the wolves that She is the equal of He in all things, his mental, physical, psychical and s.e.xual peer. That is why the type is kept pure and eternal. The wolf of twenty centuries hence will be fully the equal of the wolf of to-day.