He tightened his lash ropes viciously, mounted his horse and took the lead, followed by Old Walker and the other mules, packed; and when he whistled for Good Luck, to Billy"s surprise the little terrier went bounding off after him. She waved at him furtively and tried to toll him back, but his devotion to his master was still just as strong as it had been when he had adopted him in Los Angeles. When he had been prostrated by the heat he had stayed with Billy gladly, but now that he was strong and accustomed to the climate he raced along after the mules. Wunpost looked back and grinned, then he reached down a hand and swooped his dog up into the saddle.
"You can"t steal him!" he hooted, and Billy bit her lip, for she thought she had weaned him from his master. And Wunpost--she had thought he was tamed to her hand, but he too had gone off and left her. He was still as wild and ruthless as on the day they had first met, when he had been chasing Dusty Rhodes with a stone; and now he was heading off into the high places he was so fond of, to play hide-and-seek with his pursuers.
Several had come up already, ostensibly to view the ruin but undoubtedly to keep Wunpost in sight; and if he continued his lawless strife she doubted if the good Lord would preserve him, as He had from the cloudburst.
Time and again he had mounted to go and each time she had held him back, for she had sensed some imminent disaster; and now, as he rode off, she felt the prompting again to run after him and call him back. But he would not come back, he was headstrong and unrepentant, making light of what others held sacred; and as she watched him out of sight something told her again that he was going out to meet his doom. Some great punishment was hanging over him, to chastise him for his sins and bring him, perhaps, to repentance; but she could no more stop his going, or turn him aside from his purpose, than she could control the rush of a cloudburst. He was like a force of nature--a rude, fighting creature who beat down opposition as the flood struck down bushes, rushing on to seek new worlds to conquer.
CHAPTER XVIII
A LESSON
The heat-wave, which had made even the desert-dwellers pant, came to an end with the Jail Canyon waterspout; the nights became bearable, the rocks cooled off and the sun ceased to strike through men"s clothes. But there was one, still clinging to her faded bib-overalls, who took no joy in the blessed release. Wilhelmina was worried, for the sightseers from Blackwater had disappeared as soon as Wunpost rode away; and now, two days later, his dog had come back, meeching and whining and licking its feet. Good Luck had left Wunpost and returned to the ranch, where he was sure of food and a friend; but now that he was fed he begged and whimpered uneasily and watched every move that she made. And every time that she started towards the trail where Wunpost had ridden away he barked and ran eagerly ahead. Billy stood it until noon, then she caught up Tellurium and rode off after the dog.
He led up the trail, where he had run so often before, but over the ridge he turned abruptly downhill and Billy refused to follow. Wunpost certainly had taken the upper trail, for there were his tracks leading on; and the dog, after all, had no notion of leading her to his master.
He was still young and inexperienced, though with that thoroughbred smartness which set him apart from the ordinary cur; but when she made as though to follow he cut circles with delight and ran along enticingly in front of her. So Billy rode after him, and at the foot of the hill she found mule-tracks heading off north. Wunpost had made a wide detour and come back, probably at night, to throw off his pursuers and start fresh; but as she followed the tracks she found where several horse tracks had circled and cut into his trail. She picked up Good Luck, who was beginning to get footsore, and followed the mule-tracks at a lope.
Near the mouth of the canyon they struck out over the mud, which the cloudburst had spread out for miles, but now they were across and going down the slope which a thousand previous floods had laid. Ahead lay Warm Springs, where the Indians sometimes camped; but the trail cut out around them and headed for Fall Canyon, the next big valley to the north. She rode on steadily, her big pistol that Wunpost had once borrowed now back in its accustomed place; and the fact that she had failed to tell her parents of her intentions did not keep her from taking up the hunt. Wunpost was in trouble, and she knew it; and now she was on her way, either to find him or to make sure he was safe.
The trail up Fall Canyon twists and winds among wash boulders, over cut-banks and up sandy gulches; but at the mouth of the canyon it plunges abruptly into willow-brush and leads on up the bed of a dry creek. Once more the steep ridges closed in and made deep gorges, the hillsides were striped with blues and reds; and along the ancient trail there were tunnels and dumps of rock where prospectors had dug in for gold. There were dog tracks in the mud showing where Good Luck had come down, and she knew Wunpost must be up there somewhere; but when she came upon a mule, lying down under his pack, she started and clutched at her gun. The mule jumped up noisily and ran smashing through the willows, then turned with a terrifying snort; and as she drew rein and stopped Good Luck sprang to the ground and rushed silently off up the canyon.
Billy followed along cautiously, driving the snorting mule before her and looking for something she feared to find. A buzzard rose up slowly, flopping awkwardly to clear the canyon wall, and her heart leapt once and stood still. There in the open lay Wunpost"s horse, its sharp-shod feet in the air, and there was a bullet-hole through its side. She stopped and looked about, at the ridge, at the sky, at the knife-like gash ahead; and then she set her teeth and spurred up the canyon to where the dog had set up a yapping.
He was standing by a tunnel at the edge of the creek, wagging his tail and waiting expectantly; and when she came in sight he dashed half-way to meet her and turned back to the hole in the hill. She rode up to its mouth, her eyes straining into the darkness, her breath coming in short, quick gasps; and Tellurium, advancing slowly, suddenly flew back and snorted as a voice came out from the depths.
"h.e.l.lo, there!" it hailed; "say, bring me a drink of water. This is Calhoun--I"m shot in the leg."
"Well, what are you hiding in there for?" burst out Billy as she dismounted; "why don"t you crawl out and get some yourself?"
Now that she knew he was alive a swift impatience swept over her, an unreasoning anger that he had caused her such a fright, and as she unslung her canteen and started for the tunnel her stride was almost vixenish. But when she found him stretched out on the bare, uneven rocks with one b.l.o.o.d.y leg done up in bandages, she knelt down suddenly and held out the canteen, which he seized and almost drained at one drink.
"Fine! Fine!" he smacked; "began to think you wasn"t coming--did you bring along that medicine I wrote for?"
"Why, what medicine?" exclaimed Billy. "No, I didn"t find a note--Good Luck must have lost it on the way."
"Well, never mind," he said; "just catch one of my mules and we"ll go back to the ranch after dark."
"But who shot you?" clamored Billy, "and what are you in here for? We"ll start back home right now!"
"No we won"t!" he vetoed; "there"s some Injuns up above there and they"re doing their best to git me. You can"t see "em--they"re hid--but when I showed myself this noon some dastard took a crack at me with his Winchester. Did you happen to bring along a little grub?"
"Why, yes," a.s.sented Billy, and went out in a kind of trance--it was so unreasonable, so utterly absurd. Why should Indians be watching to shoot down Wunpost when he had always been friendly with them all? And for that matter, why should anyone desire to kill him--that certainly could never lead them to his mine. The men who had come to the ranch were Blackwater prospectors--she knew them all by sight--and if it was they who had followed him she was absolutely sure that Wunpost had started the fight. She stepped out into the dazzling sunshine and looked up at the ridges that rose tier by tier above her, but she had no fear either of white men or Indians, for she had done nothing to make them her enemies. Whoever they were, she knew she was safe--but Wunpost was hiding in a cave. All his bravado gone, he was afraid to venture out even to wet his parched throat at the creek.
"What were you doing?" she demanded when she had given him her lunch, and Wunpost reared up at the challenge.
"I was riding along that trail," he answered defiantly, "and I wasn"t doing a thing. And then a bullet came down and got me through the leg--I didn"t even hear the shot. All I know is I was riding and the next thing I knew I was down and my horse was laying on my leg. I got out from under him somehow and jumped over into the brush, and I"ve been hiding here ever since. But it"s Lynch that"s behind it--I know that for a certainty--he"s hired some of these Injuns to bushwhack me."
"Have you seen them?" she asked unbelievingly.
"No, and I don"t need to," he retorted. "I guess I know Injuns by this time. That"s just the way they work--hide out on some ridge and pot a man when he goes by. But they"re up there, I know it, because one of them took a shot at me this noon--and anyhow I can just _feel_ "em!"
"Well, _I_ can"t," returned Billy, "and I don"t believe they"re there; and if they are they won"t hurt me. They all know me too well, and we"ve always been good to them. I"m going up to catch your mules."
"No, look out!" warned Wunpost; "them devils are treacherous, and I wouldn"t put it past "em to shoot you. But you wait till I get this leg of mine fixed and I"ll make some of "em hard to ketch!"
"Now you see what you get," burst out Billy heartlessly, "for taking Mr.
Lynch to Poison Spring. I"m sorry you"re shot, but when you get well I hope this will be a lesson to you. Because if it wasn"t for your dog, and me running away from home, you never would get away from here alive."
"Well, for cripes" sake!" roared Wunpost, "don"t you think I know that now? What"s the use of rubbing it in? And you"re dead right it"ll be a lesson--I"ll ride the ridges, after this, and the next time I"ll try to shoot first. But you go up the canyon and throw the packs off them mules and bring me Old Walker to ride. I ain"t crippled; I"m all right, but this leg is sure hurting me and I believe I"ll take a chance. Saddle him up and we"ll start for the ranch."
Billy stepped out briskly, half smiling at his rage and at the straits to which his anger had brought him; but when she heard his heavy groaning as she helped him into the saddle her woman"s heart was touched. After all he was just a child, a big reckless boy, still learning the hard lessons of life; and it had certainly been treacherous for the a.s.sa.s.sin to shoot him without even giving him a chance. She rode close beside him as they went down the canyon, to protect him from possible bullets; and if Wunpost divined her purpose it did not prevent him from keeping her between him and the ridge. The wound and the long wait had shattered his nerves and made him weak and querulous, and he cursed softly whenever he hit his sore leg; but back at the ranch his spirits revived and he insisted upon going on to Blackwater.
Cole Campbell had cleaned his wound and drenched it well with dilute carbolic, but though it was clean and would heal in a few days, Wunpost demanded to be taken to town. He was restless and uneasy in the presence of these people, whose standards were so different from his own; but behind it all there was some hidden purpose which urged him on to Los Angeles. It was shown in the set lips, the stern brooding stare and his impatience with his motion-impeding leg; but to Billy it was shown most by his oblivious glances and the absence of all proper grat.i.tude. She had done a brave deed in following his dog back and in rescuing him from the bullets of his enemies, but when she drew near and tried to engage him in conversation his answers were mostly in monosyllables. Only once did he rouse up, and that was when she said that Lynch was even with him now, and the look in his eyes gave Billy to understand that he was not even with Lynch. That was it--he was unrepentant, he was brooding revenge, he was planning even more desperate deeds; but he would not tell her, or even admit that he was worried about anything but his leg.
It was hurting him, he said, and he wanted a good doctor to see it before it grew worse; but when he went away he avoided her eye and Billy ran off and wept.
CHAPTER XIX
TAINTED MONEY
A month pa.s.sed by and the haze above the Sink lifted its shroud and revealed the mountains beyond; the soft blues and pinks crept back into the distance and the shadowy canyons were filled with royal purple. At dawn a silver radiance rose and glowed along the east and the sunsets stained the west with orange and gold; there was wine in the cool air, and when the night wind came up the prospectors crouched over their fires. The first October storm put a crown on Telescope Peak and tipped the lesser Panamints with snow, but still Wilhelmina waited and Wunpost did not return from his mysterious trip "inside."
The time was not ripe for his notable revenge and he had forgotten Jail Canyon and her. Yet at last she saw his dust, and as she watched him through her gla.s.ses something told her that his thoughts were not of her. He was on his way, either seeking after gold or searching out the means of revenge; and if he came that way it was to find his dog and mules and not to make love to her. Their ranch was merely his half-way house, a place to feed his animals and leave them when he went away; and she was only a child, to be noticed like a fond dog, but not to be taken seriously. Billy put up her gla.s.ses and went back to the house, and when he arrived she was a woman. Her hair was done up gracefully, her nimble limbs were confined in skirts; and she smiled at him demurely, as if her mind was far away and he had recalled her from maidenly dreams.
"Well, well!" exclaimed Wunpost as he limped up to the house and discovered her on the shady front porch; "where"s the trusty bib-overalls and all? What"s the matter--is it Sunday, or did you see my dust? Say, you don"t look right without them curls!"
"We"re thinking of moving away," she explained quite truthfully, "and I can"t wear overalls then."
"Moving away!" cried Wunpost; "why, where were you thinking of going to?
Has your father given up on his road?"
"Well, no--or that is, he"s working on a trail to pack down the ore he had sacked. And after that"s shipped, if it pays him what it ought, we"re going to move inside."
"Oh," observed Wunpost and sat down on the porch, where he rumpled his hair reflectively. "Say," he said at last, "I"ve got a little roll--what"s the matter if _I_ build the road?"
"Shh!" she hissed, moving over and speaking low; "don"t you know that Mother wouldn"t hear to it? And poor Father, he feels awful bad."
"No, but look," he protested, "you folks have been my friends, and I owe you for taking care of my mules. I"d be glad to advance the money to put in an aerial tramway and you could pay it back out of the ore. That"s the kind of road you want, one that will never wash out, and I know where you can get one cheap. There"s one down by Goler that you can buy for almost nothing--I stopped and looked it over, coming up. And all you have to do, after you once get it installed, is to feed your ore into the buckets and send them down the canyon and the empties will come up with your supplies. It"s automatic--works itself, and can"t get out of order--just a long, double cable, swinging down from point to point and supplying its own power by gravity. Some cla.s.s to that, and I tell you what I"ll do--I"ll lend the money to _you_!"
"No!" she said as he reached down into his pocket, and she gazed at him reproachfully.
"What do you mean?" he asked after a minute of puzzled silence, and she shook her head and pointed towards the house. Then she rose up quietly and led off down the path where the hollyhocks were still in full bloom.