The man turned and stared at them. Short, stockily built, appearing at first view almost grotesque under the broad brim of his hat, Stella, recognising the marshal, was conscious only of a clean-shaven face, a square jaw, and a pair of stern blue eyes.
"Oh, is that you, Jim?" he asked briefly. "Lord, I don"t see why a big b.o.o.b like you should need a guardian. The lady? Pardon me, madam,"
and he touched his hat. "Stand back there, you fellows. Come on, folks!"
The little marshal knew his business, and it was also evident that the crowd knew the little marshal. Drunk and quarrelsome as many of them were, they made way--the more obstreperous sullenly, but the majority in a spirit of rough good humour. The time had not come for war against authority, and even the most reckless were fully aware that there was a law-and-order party in Haskell, ready and willing to back their officer to the limit. Few were drunk enough as yet to openly defy his authority and face the result, as most of them had previously seen him in action. To the girl it was all terrifying enough--the rough, hairy faces, the muttered threats, the occasional oath, the jostling figures--but the two men, one on each side of her, accepted the situation coolly enough, neither touching the revolver at his belt, but, sternly thrusting aside those in their way, they pressed straight through the surging ma.s.s in the man-crowded lobby of the disreputable hotel.
The building itself was a barnlike structure, unpainted, but with a rude, unfinished veranda in front. One end contained a saloon, crowded with patrons, but the office, revealed in the glare of a smoky lamp, disclosed a few occupants, a group of men about a card-table.
At the desk, wide-eyed with excitement, Miss Donovan took a service-worn pen proffered by landlord Pete Timmons, whose grey whiskers were as unkempt as his hotel, and registered her name.
"A telegram came to-day for you, ma"am," Peter said in a cracked voice, and tossed it over.
Miss Donovan tore it open. It was from Farriss. It read:
If any clues, advise immediately. Willis digging hard. Letter of instruction follows.
FARRISS.
The girl folded the message, thrust it in her jacket-pocket, then turning to the marshal and Westcott, gave each a firm hand.
"You"ve both been more than kind," she said gratefully.
"h.e.l.l, ma"am," Dan deprecated, "that warn"t nothin"!" And he hurried into the street as loud cries sounded outside.
"Good night, Miss Donovan," Westcott said simply. "If you are ever frightened or in need of a friend, call on me. I"ll be in town two days yet, and after that Pete here can get word to me." Then, with an admiring, honest gaze, he searched her eyes a moment before he turned and strolled toward the rude cigar-case.
"All right, now, ma"am?" Pete Timmons said, picking, up her valise.
The girl nodded, and together they went up the rude stairs to her room where Timmons paused at the door.
"Well, I"m glad you"re here," he said, moving away. "We"ve been waitin" for you to show. I may be wrong, ma"am, but I"d bet my belt that you"re the lady that"s been expected by Ned Beaton."
"You"re mistaken," she replied shortly.
As she heard him clatter down the stairs, Miss Stella Donovan of the New York _Star_ knew that her visit would not be in vain.
CHAPTER VIII: A GANG OF ENEMIES
The miner waited, leaning against the desk. His eyes had followed the slender figure moving after the rotund Timmons up the uncarpeted stairs until it had vanished amid the shadows of the second story. He smiled quietly in imagination of her first astonished view of the interior of room eighteen, and recalled to mind a vivid picture of its adornments--the bare wood walls, the springless bed, the crack-nosed pitcher standing disconsolate in a blue wash-basin of tin; the little round mirror in a once-gilt frame with a bullet-hole through its centre, and the strip of dingy rag-carpet on the floor--all this suddenly displayed by the yellowish flame of a small hand-lamp left sitting on the window ledge.
Timmons came down the stairs, and bustled in back of the desk, eager to ask questions.
"Lady a friend o" yours, Jim?" he asked. "If I"d a knowed she wus comin" I"d a saved a better room."
"I have never seen her until to-night, Pete. She got off the train, and Carson asked me to escort her up-town--it was dark, you know. How did she like the palatial apartment?"
"Well, she didn"t say nothin"; just sorter looked around. I reckon she"s a good sport, all right. What do ye suppose she"s come yere for?"
"Not the slightest idea; I take it that"s her business."
"Sure; but a feller can"t help wonderin", can he? Donovan," he mused, peering at the name; "that"s Irish, I take it--hey?"
"Suspiciously so; you are some detective, Pete. I"ll give you another clue--her eyes are Irish grey."
He sauntered across to the stove, and stood looking idly at the card-players, blue wreaths of tobacco smoke circling up from the bowl of his pipe. Some one opened the street door, letting in a babel of noise, and walked heavily across the office floor. Westcott turned about to observe the newcomer. He was a burly, red-faced man, who had evidently been drinking heavily, yet was not greatly under the influence of liquor, dressed in a checked suit of good cut and fashion, but hardly in the best of taste. His hat, a Stetson, was pushed back on his head, and an unlighted cigar was clinched tightly between his teeth. He bore all the earmarks of a commercial traveller of a certain sort--a domineering personality, making up by sheer nerve what he might lack in brains. But for his words the miner would have given the fellow no further thought.
"Say, Timmons," he burst forth noisily, and striding over to the desk, "the marshal tells me a dame blew in from New York to-night--is she registered here?"
The landlord shoved the book forward, with one finger on the last signature.
"Yep," he said shortly, "but she ain"t the one you was lookin" for--I asked her that, furst thing."
"Stella Donovan--huh! That"s no name ever I heard; what"s she look like?"
"Like a lady, I reckon; I ain"t seen one fer quite a spell now."
"Dark or light?"
"Waal, sorter medium, I should say; brown hair with a bit o" red in it, an" a pair o" grey eyes full of fun--some girl, to my notion."
The questioner struck his fist on the wood sharply.
"Well, what the devil do you suppose such a woman has come to this hole clear from New York for, Timmons? What"s her game, anyhow?"
"Blessed if I know," and the proprietor seated himself on a high stool.
"I didn"t ask no questions like that; maybe the gent by the stove there might give yer all the information yer want. He brought her up from the dapoo, an" kin talk English. Say, Jim, this yere is a short horn frum New York, named Beaton, an" he seems ter be powerfully interested in skirts--Beaton, Mr. Jim Westcott."
The two men looked at each other, the miner stepping slightly forward, and knocking the ashes out of his pipe. Beaton laughed, a.s.suming a semblance of good nature.
"My questions were prompted solely by curiosity," he explained, evidently not wholly at ease. "I was expecting a young woman, and thought this new arrival might prove to be my friend."
"Hardly," returned Westcott dryly. "As the landlord informed you, Miss Donovan is a lady."
If he expected this shot to take effect he was disappointed, for the grin never left Beaton"s face.
"Ah, a good joke; a very good joke, indeed. But you misunderstand; this is altogether a business matter. This young woman whom I expect is coming here on a mining deal--it is not a love affair at all, I a.s.sure you."
Westcott"s eyes sparkled, yet without merriment.
"Quite pleased to be so a.s.sured," he answered carelessly. "In what manner can I satisfy your curiosity? You have already been informed, I believe, that the person relative to whom you inquire is a Miss Stella Donovan, of New York; that she has the appearance and manners of a lady, and possesses brown hair and grey eyes. Is there anything more?"
"Why, no--certainly not."
"I thought possibly you might care to question me regarding my acquaintance with the young woman?" Westcott went on, his voice hardening slightly. "If so, I have not the slightest objection to telling you that it consists entirely of acting as her escort from the station to the hotel. I do not know why she is here, how long she intends staying, or what her purpose may be. Indeed, there is only one fact I do know which may be of interest to you."