"Oh, why--?" moaned the girl. "He--It was so useless. Everything was all right. Perhaps--after all, he didn"t do it."
"You know him as well as I do. I"m hoping he had better sense, but--he"s got a temper. He was always talking about the disgrace."
"Has he gone? Can"t you help him? He might make the Boundary--"
Broad shook his head. "No use. It"s too late for that. If he"s still here me "n" the Kid will do our best to swear him out of it."
Rouletta swayed, she groped blindly at the bar rail for support, whereupon her companion cried in a low voice:
"Here! Brace up, or you"ll tip it all off! If he stands pat, how they going to prove anything? The Count"s been dead for hours. He was all drifted--"
Broad was interrupted by the Mocha Kid, who entered out of the night at that instant with the announcement: "Well, they got him!
Rock found him, and he denies it, but they"ve got him at the Barracks, puttin" him through the third degree. I don"t mind sayin" that Frenchman needed croakin", bad, and they"d ought to give Phillips a vote of thanks and a bronx tablet."
Mocha"s words added to Rouletta"s terror, for it showed that other minds ran as did hers. Already, it seemed to her, Pierce Phillips had been adjudged guilty. Through the murk of fright, of apprehension in which her thoughts were racing there came a name-- "Poleon Doret. Here was deep trouble, grave peril, a threat to her newfound happiness. "Poleon, her brother, would know what to do, for his head was clear, his judgment was unerring. He never failed her. Blindly she ran for her wraps, hurriedly she flung them on, then plunged out into the night. As she scurried through the street, panic-stricken, beset, one man"s name was in her thoughts, but another"s was upon her lips. Over and over she kept repeating:
""Poleon! Oh,"Poleon!"
CHAPTER XXVII
The news of Count Courteau"s death traveled fast. "Poleon Doret was not long in hearing of it, and of course he went at once in search of Rouletta. By the time he found her the girl"s momentary panic had been succeeded by a quite unnatural self-possession; her perturbation had changed to an intense but governable agitation, and her mind was working with a clarity and a rapidity more than normal. This power of rising to an emergency she had doubtless inherited from her father. "One-armed" Kirby had been a man of resource, and, so long as he remained sober, he had never lost his head. Swiftly the girl told of the instant suspicion that had attached to Phillips and of his prompt apprehension.
"Who done dat shootin" if he don"t?" Doret inquired, quickly.
"Joe McCaskey--or Frank," Rouletta answered with positiveness.
"Poleon started. Through the gloom he stared incredulously at the speaker.
"I"m sure of it, now that I"ve had time to think," the girl declared. "That"s why I ran for you. Now listen! I promised not to tell this, but--I must. Courteau confessed to his wife that he and the McCaskeys trumped up that charge against Pierce. They paid Courteau well for his part--or they promised to--and he perjured himself, as did they. Hilda got the truth out of him while he was drunk. Of course he denied it later, but she broke him down, and this evening, just before we got home, he promised to go to Colonel Cavendish and make a clean breast of everything. He went out for that purpose, but--evidently he lacked courage to go through with it. Otherwise how did he come to be on the back streets? The McCaskeys live somewhere back yonder, don"t they?"
"Sure!" "Poleon meditated, briefly. "Mebbe so you"re right," he said, finally.
"I know I"m right," Rouletta cried. "The first thing to do is find them. Where are they?"
"I don" see "em no place."
"Then we must tell the colonel to look them up."
But Doret"s brows remained puckered in thought. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "I got idea of my own. If dem feller kill Courteau dey ain"t nowheres roun" here. Dey beat it, firs" t"ing."
"To Hunker? Perhaps--"
"No. For de Boun"ry." "Poleon slapped his thigh in sudden enlightenment. "By golly! Dat"s why I don" see "em no place. You stay here. I mak" sure."
He turned and strode away, but Rouletta followed at his heels.
"I"m going, too," she stoutly a.s.serted. "Don"t argue. I"ll bet ten to one we find their cabin empty."
Together they made their way rapidly out of the brightly illuminated portion of the town and into the maze of blank warehouses and snow-banked cabins which lay behind. At this hour of the night few lamps were burning even in private residences, and, inasmuch as these back streets were unlighted, the travelers had to feel their way. The wind was diminishing, but even yet the air was thick with flying flakes, and new drifts seriously impeded progress. Wading knee-deep in places, stumbling in and out of cuts where the late snow had been removed, clambering over treacherous slopes where other snows lay hard packed and slippery, the two pursued their course.
"Poleon came to a pause at length in the shelter of a pole provision-cache and indistinctly took his bearings. Silently he pointed to the premises and vigorously nodded his head; then he craned his neck for a view of the stove-pipe overhead. Neither sparks nor smoke nor heat was rising from it. After a cautious journey of exploration he returned to Rouletta and spoke aloud:
"Dey gone. Sled, dogs, ever"t"ing gone."
He pushed open the cache door, and a moment later there came the sound of rending wood as he shouldered his way into the dark cabin, regardless of lock and bar. Rouletta was close behind him when he struck a match and held it to a candle which he discovered fixed in its own wax beside the window.
Curiously the interlopers surveyed the unfamiliar premises.
Rouletta spoke first, with suppressed excitement:
"You were right. And they left in a hurry, too."
"Sure. Beddin" gone, an"--dey got plenty beddin" on Hunker. Here dey mak" grub-pack, see?" "Poleon ran his finger through a white dust of flour which lay thick upon the table. Striding to the stove, he laid his hand upon it; he lifted the lid and felt of the ashes within. "Dey lef "bout five hour" ago. Wal, dat"s beeg start. I guess mebbe dey safe enough."
"Don"t say that," Rouletta implored. "Rock can overtake them. He"s a famous traveler."
"I dunno. Dey got good team--"
"He must catch them! Why, he has ninety miles to do it in! He must, "Poleon, he MUST! Of course this is evidence, but it isn"t proof. Remember, Pierce talked wildly. People are prejudiced against him and--you know the Police. They act on suspicion, and circ.u.mstances are certainly strong. Poor boy! If these men get away--who knows what may happen to him? I tell you his very life may be in danger, for the law is an awful thing. I--I"ve always been afraid of it. So was father, to his dying day. We must send Rock flying. Yes, and without a moment"s delay."
"You still got deep feelin" for dat feller?" "Poleon inquired, gravely. The quick look of anguish, the frank nod of a.s.sent that he received, were enough. "Bien!" he said, slowly. "I mak"
satisfy, dat"s all. I never see you so scare" as dis."
"You know how I feel," Rouletta said; then, more curiously: "Why do you need to make sure? Do you think I"ve changed--?" She hesitated for an instant; there came a faint pucker of apprehension between her brows; into her eyes crept a look of wonder which changed to astonishment, then to incredulity, fright.
"Oh--h!" she exclaimed. She raised a faltering hand to her lips as if to stay a further betrayal of the knowledge that had suddenly come to her. "Oh, "Poleon, my dear! My brother!"
The man smiled painfully as he met her shocked gaze. "I"m fonny feller, ma saeur; always dream-in" de mos" foolish t"ing. Don" pay no"tention."
"I am--I always will be that--your sister. Have I made you unhappy?"
Vigorously he shook his head; his face slowly cleared. "No, no. In dis life one t"ing is give me happiness--one t"ing alone--an" dat is bring you joy. Now come. De gra.s.s growin" on our feet."
Together and in silence they hurried back as they had come; then, on the plea that he could make better time alone, "Poleon left his companion and headed for the Barracks.
Rouletta let him go without protest; her heart was heavier than lead; she could find no words whatever. A new tragedy, it seemed, had risen to face her, for she realized now that she had hurt the man who loved her best of all. That certainty filled her with such regret, such a feeling of guilt, that she could not bear to think of it. A very poignant sense of pain troubled her as she turned into the Rialto, and as a consequence the lively clatter of the place grated upon her sensibilities; she felt a miserable, sick desire to shut her ears to this sound of laughter which was like ribald applause for the death-blow she had dealt. Yes, she had dealt a death-blow, and to one most dear. But how could she have known? How could she have foreseen such a wretched complication as this? Who would have dreamed that gay, careless, laughing "Poleon Doret was like other men? Rouletta felt the desire to bend her head and release those scalding tears that trembled on her lashes.
Lieutenant Rock was preparing for bed when "Poleon, after some little difficulty, forced his way in upon him. The officer listened to his caller"s recital, and even before it was finished he had begun to dress himself in his trail clothes.
"Courteau confessed, eh? And the McCaskeys have disappeared--taken French leave. Say! That changes the look of things, for a fact. Of course they may have merely gone back to Hunker--"
"In de middle of snow-storm? Dis tam de night? No. Dey makin" run for de Line an" it"s goin" tak" fas" team for pull "em down."
"Well, I"ve got the best dogs in town."
Rock"s caller smiled. "M"sieu", dey goin" travel some if dey keep in sight of me."
"YOU?" Rock straightened himself. "Will you go along? Jove! I"d like that!" he cried, heartily. "I"ve heard you own a lively bunch of mutts."