Macdonald"s lieutenant got busy at once with plans to abduct Holt. That it was very much against the law did not disturb him much so long as his chief stood back of him. The unsupported word of the old man would not stand in court, and if he became obstreperous they could always have him locked up as a lunatic. The very pose of the old miner--the make-believe pretension that he was half a fool--would lend itself to such a charge.
"We"ll send the old man off on a prospecting trip with some of the boys," explained Selfridge to Rowland. "That way we"ll kill two birds.
He"s back on his a.s.sessment work. The time limit will be up before he returns and we"ll start a contest for the claim."
Howland made no comment. He was an engineer and not a politician. In his position it was impossible for him not to know that a good deal about the legal status of the Macdonald claims was irregular. But he was a firm believer in a wide-open Alaska, in the use of the Territory by those who had settled it. The men back of the big Scotchman were going to spend millions in development work, in building railroads. It would help labor and business. The whole North would feel a healthful reaction from the Kamatlah activities. So, on the theory that the end sometimes justifies doubtful means, he shut his eyes to many acts that in his own private affairs he would not have countenanced.
"Better arrange it with Big Bill, then, but don"t tell me anything about it. I don"t want to know the details," he told Selfridge.
Big Bill Macy accepted the job with a grin. There was double pay in it both for him and the men he chose as his a.s.sistants. He had never liked old Holt anyhow. Besides, they were not going to do him any harm.
Holt was baking a batch of sour-dough bread that evening when there came a knock at the cabin door. At sight of Big Bill and his two companions the prospector closed the oven and straightened with alert suspicion.
He was not on visiting terms with any of these men. Why had they come to see him? He asked point-blank the question in his mind.
"We"re going prospecting up Wild-Goose Creek, and we want you to go along, Gid," explained Macy. "You"re an old sour-dough miner, and we-all agree we"d like to have you throw-in with us. What say?"
The old miner"s answer was direct but not flattering. "What do I want to go on a wild-goose mush with a bunch of b.u.ms for?" he shrilled.
Bill Macy scratched his hook nose and looked reproachfully at his host.
At least Holt thought he was looking at him. One could not be sure, for Bill"s eyes did not exactly track.
"That ain"t no kind o" way to talk to a fellow when he comes at you with a fair proposition, Gid."
"You tell Selfridge I ain"t going to leave Kamatlah--not right now. I"m going to stay here on the job till that Land Office inspector comes--and then I"m going to have a nice, long, confidential chat with him. See?"
"What"s the use of snapping at me like a turtle? Durden says Wild-Goose looks fine. There"s gold up there--heaps of it."
"Let it stay there, then. I ain"t going. That"s flat." Holt turned to adjust the damper of his stove.
"Oh, I don"t know. I wouldn"t say that," drawled Bill insolently.
The man at the stove caught the change in tone and turned quickly. He was too late. Macy had thrown himself forward and the weight of his body flung Holt against the wall. Before the miner could recover, the other two men were upon him. They bore him to the floor and in spite of his struggles tied him hand and foot.
Big Bill rose and looked down derisively at his prisoner. "Better change your mind and go with us, Holt. We"ll spend a quiet month up at the headquarters of Wild-Goose. Say you"ll come along."
"You"ll go to prison for this, Bill Macy."
"Guess again, Gid, and mebbe you"ll get it right this time." Macy turned to his companions. "George, you bring up the horses. Dud, see if that bread is cooked. Might as well take it along with us--save us from baking to-morrow."
"What are you going to do with me?" demanded Holt.
"I reckon you need a church to fall on you before you can take a hint.
Didn"t I mention Wild-Goose Creek three or four times?" jeered his captor.
"Every step you take will be one toward the penitentiary. Get that into your cocoanut," the old miner retorted sharply.
"Nothing to that idee, Gid."
"I"ll scream when you take me out."
"Go to it. Then we"ll gag you."
Holt made no further protest. He was furious, but at present quite helpless. However it went against the grain, he might as well give in until rebellion would do some good.
Ten minutes later the party was moving silently along the trail that led to the hills. The pack-horses went first, in charge of George Holway.
The prisoner walked next, his hands tied behind him. Big Bill followed, and the man he had called Dud brought up the rear.
They wound up a rising valley, entering from it a canon with precipitous walls that shut out the late sun. It was by this time past eleven o"clock and dusk was gathering closer. The winding trail ran parallel with the creek, sometimes through thickets of young fir and sometimes across boulder beds that made traveling difficult and slow. They went in single file, each of them with a swarm of mosquitoes about his head.
Macy had released the hands of his prisoner so that he might have a chance to fight the singing pests, but he kept a wary eye upon him and never let him move more than a few feet from him. The trail grew steeper as it neared the head of the canon till at last it climbed the left wall and emerged from the gulch to an uneven mesa.
The leader of the party looked at his watch. "Past midnight. We"ll camp here, George, and see if we can"t get rid of the "skeeters."
They built smudge fires of green wood and on the lee side of these another one of dry sticks. Dud made coffee upon this and cooked bacon to eat with the fresh bread they had taken from the oven of Holt. While George chopped wood for the fires and boughs of small firs for bedding, Big Bill sat with a rifle across his knees just back of the prisoner.
"Gid"s a shifty old cuss, and I ain"t taking any chances," he explained aloud to Dud.
Holt was beginning to take the outrage philosophically. He sat close to a smudge and smoked his pipe.
"I wouldn"t either if I were you. Sometime when you ain"t watching, I"m liable to grab that gun and shoot a hole in the place where your brains would be if you had any," countered the old man.
He slept peacefully while they took turns watching him. Just now there would be no chance to escape, but in a few days they would become careless. The habit of feeling that they had him securely would grow upon them. Then, reasoned Holt, his opportunity would come. One of the guards would take a chance. Perhaps he might even fall asleep on duty.
It was not reasonable to suppose that in the next week or two he would not catch them napping once for a short ten seconds.
There was, of course, just the possibility that they intended to murder him, but Holt could not a.s.sociate Selfridge with anything so lawless.
The man was too soft of fiber to carry through such a programme, and as yet there was need of nothing so drastic. No, this little kidnapping expedition would not run to murder. He would be set free in a few weeks, and if he told the true story of where he had been his foes would spread the report that he was insane in his hatred of Macdonald and imagined all sorts of persecutions.
They followed Wild-Goose Creek all next day, getting always closer to its headwaters near the divide. On the third day they crossed to the other side of the ridge and descended into a little mountain park. They were in a country where prospectors never came, one deserted even by trappers at this season of the year.
The country was so much a primeval wilderness that a big bull moose stalked almost upon their camp before discovering the presence of a strange biped. Big Bill s.n.a.t.c.hed up a rifle and took a shot which sent the intruder scampering.
From somewhere in the distance came a faint sound.
"What was that?" asked George.
"Sounded like a shot. Mebbe it was an echo," returned Dud.
"Came too late for an echo," Big Bill said.
Again faintly from some far corner of the basin the sound drifted. It was like the pop of a scarcely heard firecracker.
The men looked at one another and at their prisoner. Their eyes consulted once more.
"Think we better break camp and drift?" asked Dud.
"No. We"re in a little draw here--as good a hiding-place as we"d be likely to find. Drive the horses into the brush, George. We"ll sit tight."
"Got the criminals guessing," Holt contributed maliciously. "You lads want to take the hide offen Macy if he lands you in the pen through that fool shot of his. Wonder if I hadn"t better yell."