CHAPTER XXII
VENGEANCE!
The place, seen from within, was a smoky inferno, lighted precariouslyby oil lanterns hung from the poles that supported a canvas roof andsides. Rows of grommets and snap hasps indicated that pack tarpaulinshad been largely used in the construction. To a height of about fivefeet the walls were of hastily hewn slabs, logs in the rough, piecesof packing cases, joined or laid haphazard, with chinks and gapsthrough which the wind blew, making rivulets of chill in a stiflingatmosphere of smoke, reeking alcohol, sweat and oil fumes. Thebuilding was a rough rectangle about twenty feet by fifty. At one endboards laid across barrels formed a semblance of a counter, behindwhich two burly men in red undershirts dispensed liquor.
Pieces of packing cases nailed to lengths of logs made crazy tablesscattered here and there. Shorter logs upended formed the chairs.There was no floor. Sand had been thrown on the ground after the snowhad been shoveled off, but the scuffling feet had beaten and trampledit into the sodden surface and had hashed it into mud.
Ankle-deep in the reeking slush stood thirty or forty men, cladmostly in laced boots, corduroys or overalls, canvas or Mackinawjackets; woolen-shirted, slouch-hatted. Rough of face and figure, theystood before the bar or lounged at the few tables, talking in groups,or shouting and carousing joyously. There was a faro layout on one ofthe tables where a man in a black felt hat, smoking a cigar, dealtfrom the box, while a wrinkle-faced man with a mouth like a slit cutin parchment sat beside him on a high log, as lookout. Half a dozenmen played silently.
Perhaps half of those present milled promiscuously among the groups,hail-fellow-well-met, drunk, blasphemous, and loud. These shouted,sang and cursed with vivid impartiality. The other half, keener-eyed,stern of face, capable, drew together in small groups of two or threeor four, talking more quietly and ignoring all others except as theykept a general alert watch on what was going on. These were theold-timers, experienced men, who trusted no strangers and had no mindto allow indiscreet familiarities from the more reckless andignorant.
When the door opened to admit Solange, straight and slim in her plainleather tunic and breeches, stained dark with melted snow, the drunkenmusicians perched on upended logs were the first to see her. Theystopped their playing and stared, and slowly a grin came upon one ofthem.
"Oh, mamma! Look who's here!" he shouted.
Half a hundred pairs of eyes swung toward the door and silence fellupon the place. Stepping heedlessly into the ankle-deep muck, Solangewalked forward. Her flat-brimmed hat was pulled low over her face andthe silk bandanna hid her hair. Behind her Sucatash walkeduncertainly, glaring from side to side at the gaping men.
The groups that kept to themselves cast appraising eyes on thecow-puncher and then turned them away. They pointedly returned totheir own affairs as though to say that, however strange, the adventof this girl accompanied by the lean rider, was none of theirbusiness. Again spoke experience and the wariness born of it.
But the tenderfeet, the drunken roisterers, were of different clay. Achorus of shouts addressed to "Sister" bade her step up and have adrink. A wit, in a falsetto scream, asked if he might have the nextdance. Jokes, or what passed in that crew for them, flew thickly,growing more ribald and suggestive as the girl stood, indifferent, andlooked about her.
Then Sucatash strode between her and the group near the bar from whichmost of the noise emanated. He hitched his belt a bit and faced themtruculently.
"You-all had better shut up," he announced in a flat voice. His wordsbrought here and there a derisive echo, but for the most part themirth died away. The loudest jibers turned ostentatiously back to thebar and called for more liquor. The few hardy ones who would havecarried on their ridicule felt that sympathy had fled from them, andmuttered into silence. Yet half of the crew carried weapons hung inplain sight, and others no doubt were armed, although the tools werenot visible, while Sucatash apparently had no weapon.
Behind the fervid comradeship and affection, the men were strangerseach to the other. None knew whom he could trust; none dared to strikelest the others turn upon him.
At one of the rude tables not far from the entrance, sat three men.They had a bottle of pale and poisonous liquor before them from whichthey took frequent and deep drinks. They talked loudly, advertisingtheir presence above the quieter groups. One or two men stood at thetable, examining a heap of dirty particles of crushed rock spread uponthe boards. They would look at it, finger it and then pass on,generally without other comment than a muttered word or two. But thethree seated men, one of whom was the gray, weasel-faced Jim Banker,boasted loudly, and profanely calling attention to the "color" and theexceeding richness of the ore. Important, swaggering, and braggart,they assumed the airs of an aristocracy, as of men set apart andelevated by success.
Outside, in the lull occasioned by Solange's dramatic entrance,noises of the camp could be heard through the flimsy walls. Far downthe canyon faint shouts could be heard. Some one was calling to animalsof some sort, apparently. A faint voice, muffled by snow, raised ayell.
"H'yar comes the fust dog sled in from the No'th," he cried. "That'sthe sour doughs for yuh! He's comin' _right_!"
They could hear the faint snarls and barks of dogs yelping far downthe canyon.
Then the noise swelled up again and drowned the alien sounds.
Dimly through the murk Solange saw the evil face of the desert rat,now flushed with drink and greed, and, with a sudden resolution, sheturned and walked toward him. He saw her coming and stared, his facegrowing sallow and his yellow teeth showing. He gave the impression ofa cornered rat at the moment.
Then his eyes fell on Sucatash, who followed her, and he half rosefrom his seat, fumbling for a gun. Sucatash paid no heed to him, notnoticing his wild stare nor the slight slaver of saliva that sprang tohis lips. His companions were busy showing the ore to curiousspectators and were too drunk to heed him.
Slowly Banker subsided into his seat as he saw that neither Solangenor Sucatash apparently had hostile intentions. He tried to twist hisseamed features into an ingratiating grin, but the effort was afailure, producing only a grimace.
"W'y, here's ole French Pete's gal!" he exclaimed, cordially, thoughthere was a quaver in his voice. "Da'tter of my old friend whatdiskivered this here mine an' then lost it. Killed, he was, by agunman, twenty years gone. Gents, say howdy to the lady!"
His two companions gaped and stared upward at the strange figure. Thestanding men, awkwardly and with a muttered word or two, backed awayfrom the table, alert and watchful. Women meant danger in such acommunity. Under the deep shadow of her hat brim, Solange's eyessmoldered, dim and mysterious.
"You are Monsieur Banker!" she asserted, tonelessly. "You need not befrightened. I have not come to ask you for an accounting--yet. It isfor another purpose that I am here."
"Shore! Anything I kin do fer old Pete's gal--all yuh got to do is askme, honey! Old Jim Banker; that's me! White an' tender an' faithful toa friend, is Jim Banker, ma'am. Set down, now, and have a nip!"
He rose and waved awkwardly to his log. One of the others, with a grinthat was almost a leer, also rose and reached for another log at aneighboring table from which a man had risen. All about that end ofthe shack, the seated or standing men, mostly of the silent and aloofgroups, drifted casually aside, leaving the table free.
Solange sat down and Sucatash put out a hand to restrain her.
"Mad'mo'selle!" he remonstrated. "This ain't no place fer yuh! Yuhdon't want to hang around here with this old natural! He's plumpoisonous, I'm tellin' yuh!"
Solange made an impatient gesture. "Some one quiet him!" sheexclaimed. "Am I not my own mistress, then!"
"Yuh better be keerful what yuh call me, young feller," said Banker,belligerently. "Yuh can't rack into this here camp and get insultin'that a way."
"Aw, shut up!" retorted Sucatash, flaming. "Think yuh can bluff mewhen I'm a-facin' yuh? Yuh damn', cowardly horned toad!"
He half drew back his fist to strike as Banker ros
e, fumbling at hisgun. But one of the other men suddenly struck out, with a fist like aham, landing beneath the cow-puncher's ear. He went down without agroan, completely knocked out.
The man got up, seized him by the legs, dragged him to the door andthrew him into the road outside. Then he came back, laughing loudly,and swaggering as though his feat had been one to be proud of. Solangehad shuddered and shrunk for a moment, but almost at once she shookherself as though casting off her repulsion and after that wasstonily composed.
On his way to the table the man who had struck Sucatash down, calledloudly for another bottle of liquor, and one of the red-shirted menbehind the bar left his place to bring it to them.
The burly bruiser sat down beside Solange with every appearance ofself-satisfaction. He leered at her as though expecting her to flameat his prowess. But she gave no heed to him.
"Yuh might lift up that hat and let us git a look at yuh," he said,reaching out as though to tilt the brim. She jerked sharply away fromhim.
"In good time, monsieur," she said. "Have patience."
Then she turned to Banker, who had been eying her with furtive,speculative eyes, cautious and suspicious.
"Monsieur Banker," she said, "it is true that you have known this manwho killed my father--this Louisiana?"
"Me! Shore, I knowed him. A murderin' gunman he was, ma'am. A badhombre!"
"And did you recognize him that time he came--when you played thatlittle--joke--upon me?"
Banker turned sallow once more, as though the recollection frightenedhim.
"I shore did," he assented fervently. "He plumb give me a start.Thought he was a ghost, that a way, you----"
He leaned forward, grinning, his latent lunacy showing for a moment inhis red eyes. Confidentially, he unburdened himself to hiscompanions.
"This lady--you'll see--she's a kind o' witch like. This here fellerracks in, me thinkin' him dead these many years, an' I misses himclean when I tries to down him. I shore thinks he's a ha'nt, called upby the lady. Haw, haw!"
His laughter was evil, chuckling and cunning. It was followed bycackling boasts:
"But they all dies--all but old Jim. Louisiana, he dies too, even if Imisses him that a way with old Betsy that ain't missed nary a one fernigh twenty year."
Under her hat brim Solange's eyes gleamed with a fierce light as thebloodthirsty old lunatic sputtered and mouthed. But the other twogrinned derisively at each other and leered at the girl.
"Talks like that all the time, miss," said one. "Them old-timers likesto git off the Deadwood Dick stuff. Me, I'm nothin' but a p'fessionalpug and all the gun fightin' I ever seen was in little old Chi. But Iain't a damn' bit afraid to say I could lick a half dozen of thesehere hicks that used to have a reputation in these parts. Fairy tales;that's wot they are!"
He swigged his drink and sucked in his breath with vastself-satisfaction. The other man, of a leaner, quieter, but just asvillainous a type, grinned at him.
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I ain't never seen no one could juggle asix-gun like they say these birds could do, but I reckon there's sometruth in it. Leastways, there are some that can shoot pretty good."
He, too, leaned back, with an air of self-satisfaction. Bankerchuckled again.
"You're both good ones," he said. "This gent can shoot some, ma'am. Hecomes from Arkansas. But I ain't a-worryin' none about that. Old Jim'sluck's still holdin' good. I found this here mine, now, although youwouldn't tell me where it was. Didn't I?"
"I suppose so," said Solange indifferently. "I do not care about themine, monsieur. It is yours. But there is something that I wish and--Ihave money----"
The instant light of greed that answered this announcement convincedher that she had struck the right note. If the mine had been as richas Golconda these men would have coveted additional money.
"You got money, ma'am?" Banker spoke whiningly.
"Money to pay for your service. You are brave men; men who would helpa woman, I feel sure. You, Monsieur Banker, knew my father and wouldhelp his daughter--if she paid you."
The irony escaped him.
"I sure would," he answered, eagerly. "What's it you want, ma'am, andwhat you goin' to pay fer it?"
She spoke quite calmly, almost casually.
"I want you to kill a man," she answered.
The three of them stared at her and then the big bruiser laughed.
"Who d'you want scragged?" he said, derisively.
Solange looked steadily at Banker. "Louisiana!" she answered, clearly.But old Jim turned pale and showed his rat's teeth.
The others merely chuckled and nudged each other.
Solange sensed that two considered her request merely a wild jokewhile the other was afraid. She slowly drew from her bag the yellowposter that De Launay had sent back to her by Sucatash.
"You would be within the law," she pleaded, spreading it out beforethem. As they bent over it, reading it slowly: "See. He is a fugitivewith a price on his head. Any one may slay him and collect a reward.It is a good deed to shoot him down."
"Five hundred dollars looks good," said the lean man from Arkansas,"but it ain't hardly enough to set me gunnin' for a feller I don'tknow. Is this a pretty bad actor?"
"Bad?" screamed Banker, suddenly. "Bad! I've seen him keep a chip inthe air fer two or three seconds shootin' under it with a six-shooter!I've seen him roll a bottle along the ground as if you was a-kickin'it, shootin' between it and the ground and never chippin' the glass.Bad! You ask Snake Murphy if he's bad. Snake was drunk an' starts afuss with him an' his hand was still on his gun butt an' the gun inthe holster when Louisiana shoots him in the wrist an' never looks athim while he's a-doin' it! Bad! I'll say he's bad!"
He was shivering and almost sick in his sudden fright at the idea offacing Louisiana. The others, however, were skeptical andcontemptuous.
"Same old Buffalo Bill and Alkali Ike stuff!" said the pugilistsneeringly. "I ain't afraid of this guy!"
"Well--neither am I," said the man from Arkansas, complacently. "Heain't the only one that can shoot, I reckon."
Banker fairly fawned upon them. "Yes," he cried. "You-all are goodfellers and you ain't afraid. You'll down Louisiana if he comes. Buthe won't come, I reckon."
"He _is_ coming," said Solange. "Not many hours ago I heard him saythat he was going to 'jump your claim,' which he said did not belongto you. And he intimated that there would be a fight and that he wouldwelcome it."
The three men were startled, looking at one another keenly. Bankerlicked his lips and was unmistakably frightened more than ever. Butin his red eyes the flame of lunacy was slowly mounting.
"If I had old Betsy here----" he muttered.
"He ain't goin' to jump this mine," said the man from Arkansas,grimly. "Me and Slugger, here, has an interest in that mine. We worksit on shares with Jim. If this shootin' sport comes round, we'll knowwhat to do with him."
"Slugger," however, was more practical. "We'll take care of him," heagreed, slapping his side where a pistol hung. "But if there's moneyin gettin' him, I want to know how much. What'll you pay, ma'am?"
"A--a thousand dollars is all I have," said Solange. "You shall havethat, messieurs."
But, somehow, her voice had faltered as though she, now, werefrightened at what she had done and regretted it. Some insistentdoubt, hitherto buried under her despair and rage, was struggling tothe surface. As she watched these sinister scoundrels mutteringtogether and concerting the downfall of the man who was herhusband--and perhaps something more, to her--she felt a panic growingin her, an impulse to spring up and rush out, back on the trail towarn De Launay. But she suppressed it, cruelly scourging herself toremembrance of her dead father and her vow of vengeance. She tried towhip the flagging sense of outrage at the trick that the brutalLouisiana had played upon her in allowing her to marry him.
"If he lights around here," she heard Banker cackling, "we'll downhim, we will! I'll add a thousand more to what the lady gives. We'llkeep a lookout, boys, an' when he shows up, he
dies!"
Then his shrill, evil cry arose again and men turned from theirpursuits to look at him. The foam stood on his lips, writhen into asnarl over yellow fangs and his red eyes flamed with insanity.
"He'll die! They all dies! Only old Jim don't die. French Pete dies;Panamint dies; that there young Dave dies! But old Jim don't die!"
Solange turned pale as he half rose, leaning on the table with onehand while the other rested on the butt of his six-shooter. A greatterror surged over her as she saw what she had let loose on herlover.
Her lover! For the first time she realized that he was her lover andthat, despite crime and insult and deadly injury, he could be nothingelse. She staggered to her feet, shoving back the brim of her hat, herwonderful eyes showing for the first time as she turned them on thesegrim wolves who faced her.
"My God!" said the bruiser, in a sudden burst of awe as he was caughtby the fathomless depths. The man from Arkansas could not see them soclearly, but he sensed something disturbing and unusual. Banker facedher and tried to tear his own eyes from her.
Then, as they stood and sat in tableau, the flimsy door to the shackflew open and Louisiana stood on the threshold, holsters sagging oneach hip and tied down around his thighs.
CHAPTER XXIII
TO THE VALE OF AVALON
Slowly the sense of something terrible and menacing was borne in onthose who grouped themselves at the table. First there came adiminishing of the sounds that filled the place. They died away like afading wind. Then the chill sweep of air from the door surged acrossthe room, like a great fear congealing the blood. In the sloppy messunderfoot could be heard the sucking, splashing sound of feet moving,as men all about drew back instinctively and rapidly to be out of theway.
Solange felt what had happened rather than saw it. The fearfulconvulsion of fright, followed by maniac rage that leaped to Banker'sface told her as though he had shouted the news. His companions andallies were merely stupefied and startled.
With an impulse to cry out a warning or to rush to him and throw herbody between De Launay and these enemies, she suddenly whirled aboutto face him. She saw him standing in the doorway, the night blackbehind him except where the light fell on untrodden snow. Dim andshadowy in the open air of the roadway were groups of figures. Theyelping and snarling of dogs floated into the place and she could seetheir wolfish figures between the legs of men and horses.
De Launay stood upright, hands outstretched at the level of hisshoulders and resting against the sides of the doorway. He was open toand scornful of attack. His clean features were set sternly and hiseyes looked levelly into the reeking interior, straight at Solange andthe three men grouped behind her.
"Monsieur de Launay!" she cried. His eyes flickered over her andfocused again on the men.
"Louisiana--at your service," he answered, quietly.
In some wild desire to urge him back she choked out words.
"Why--why did you come?"
He did not answer her direct but raised his voice a little, thoughstill without emotion.
"Jim Banker," he said, "I came for you. There are others out here whohave also come for you--but I am holding them back. I want youmyself."
Out of Banker's foaming lips came a snarling cry.
"Wh-what fer?"
Again the answer was not direct, and this time it was Solange he spoketo, though he did not alter the direction of his gaze.
"Mademoiselle, you are directly in line with these--men. You hadbetter move aside."
But Solange felt the pressure of a gun muzzle at her back and thesnarl was in her ear.
"You don't move none! Stand where you be, or I'll take you fust andgit him next!"
Nevertheless she would have moved, had not De Launay caught theknowledge of her peril. He spoke again, still calm but with a new,steely note in his voice.
"Stand fast, mademoiselle, then, if they must have you for a shield.But don't move. Shut your eyes!"
Hardly knowing why, she obeyed, oblivious of the peril to herself butin an agony lest her presence and position increase his danger. DeLaunay dominated her, and she stood as rigid as a statue, awaiting thecataclysm.
But he was speaking again.
"The wolves dug up the body of Dave MacKay, Banker, and the menoutside found it. What you did to Wallace the other day he hasrecovered sufficiently to tell us. What you tried to do to this youngwoman I have also told them. Shall I tell her, and the others, whokilled French Pete nineteen years ago?"
Again came the whining, shrill snarl from behind Solange.
"You did, you----"
"So you have said before, Jim. But I have the bullet that killed Peted'Albret. I also have the bullet you shot at me when I came up to savemademoiselle from you a week ago. Those two are of the same caliber,Banker. It's a caliber that's common enough nowadays but wasn't verycommon in nineteen hundred. Who shot a Savage .303, nineteen yearsago, and who shoots that same rifle to-day?"
There was a slow mutter of astonishment rising from the men crowdedabout the walls and in front of the crude bar. It was a murmur thatcontained the elements of a threat.
"I give you first shot, Jim," came the half-mocking voice of De Launaybeating, half heard, on Solange's ears, where the astounding reversalof her notions was causing her brain almost to reel. Then she heardthe whistling scream of Banker, quite lunatic by now, as he lost allsense of fear in his rising madness.
"By heaven, but you don't git me, Louisiana! Nobody gits old Jim. Theyall die--all but old Jim!"
The shattering concussion of a shot fired within an inch or two of herear almost stunned her. She felt the powder burning her cheek. Almostagainst her will her eyes flew open to see the figure in the door jerkand sag a little. Triumphant and horrible came Banker's scream.
"They all die--all but old Jim!"
She was conscious of hasty movements beside her. The two other men,awaking from their stupor and sensing their opportunity as De Launaywas hit, were drawing their guns.
"Stand still!" thundered De Launay and she stiffened automatically.His hands had dropped from the doorway and now they seemed to snapupward with incredible speed and in them were two squat and heavyautomatics, their grizzly muzzles sweeping like the snap of a whip toa line directly at herself, as it seemed.
Two shots again rocked her with their concussion. They seemed merelyechoes of the flaming roars from the big automatics as each of themspoke. A man standing against the wall some feet away from De Launayducked sharply, with a cry. The shot fired by the Slugger had gonewide, narrowly missing him. A chip flew from the door lintel near DeLaunay's head. The man from Arkansas was shooting closer.
Solange was conscious that some one beside her had grunted heavily andthat some one else was choking distressingly. She could not lookaround but she heard a heavy slump to her left. To her right somethingfell more suddenly and sharply, splashing soggily in the muck. Then,once more the powder burned her cheek and the eardrum was numbed underan explosion.
"I got you, Louisiana!" came Banker's yell. She saw De Launay staggeragain and felt that she was about to faint.
"Stand still!" he shouted again. She knew she was sheltering hismurderer and that, from behind her, the finishing shot was alreadybeing aimed over her shoulder. Yet, although she felt that she mustrisk her life in order to get out of line and give him a chance, hisvoice still dominated her and she stiffened.
One of the big pistols swept into line and belched fire and noise ather. She heard the brittle snapping of bone at her ear and somethingstruck her sharply on the collar bone, a snapping blow, as though somehard and heavy object had struck and glanced upward and away. Then thesecond pistol crashed at her.
Again she heard the sound of something smashing behind her. There wasno other sound except the noise of something slipping. That somethingthen slid, splashing, to the floor.
De Launay's pistols were lowered and he was taking a step into theroom. Solange noted that he staggered again, that the deerskinwaistcoat was stained, and she trie
d to find strength to run to him.
She saw, as she moved, the huddled figures at her side where the deadmen lay, and she knew that there was another behind her. She heard theslopping of feet in the mud as men closed in from all about her. Sheheard awe-struck voices commenting on what had happened.
"Plumb center--and only a chunk of his haid showin' above the gal! Ifyou ask me, that's shore some shootin'!"
"An each o' the other two with a shot--jest a left an' a right!"
"Gets the gun with one barrel an' the man with the other. Did you-allsee it?"
Her feet were refusing to carry her, leaden and weighty as theyseemed. Her knees were trembling and her head swimming. Yet sheretained consciousness, for, in front of her, De Launay was crumplingforward, and sinking to the muddy shambles in which he stood.
Friendly hands were holding her up and she swept the cobwebs from herbrain with her hands, determined that she would conquer her weakness.Somehow she staggered to De Launay's side and, heedless of the mud,sank to her knees.
"_Mon ami! Mon ami!_" she moaned over him, her hands folding over hislean cheeks, still brown in spite of the pallor that was sweepingthem.
A man dropped to his knees beside De Launay and opposite her. She didnot heed his swift gesture in ripping back the buckskin vest. Nor didshe feel the hand on her shoulder where Sucatash stood behind her. Thecrowding bystanders were nonexistent to her consciousness as sheraised De Launay's head.
Then his eyes fluttered open and met hers; were held by them as thoughthey were drawn down to the depths of her and lost in them. Over hismouth, under the small, military mustache crept a smile.
"Morgan _la f?e_!" he whispered.
Solange choked back a sob. She leaned nearer and opened her eyeswider. De Launay's gaze remained lost in the depths of hers. But hesaw at last to the bottom of them; saw there unutterable sorrow andlove.
"Don't worry, fair lady!" he gasped. "It's been something--to livefor--once more! And the mine--you'll not need that--after all!"
His eyes slowly closed but he was not unconscious, for he spokeagain.
"It's nothing much. That rat couldn't kill--Louisiana!"
The man who was examining De Launay made an impatient gesture andSucatash drew her gently away. She rose slowly, bending dumbly overthe physician, as he seemed to be.
"Reckon he's right," said this man, grimly, as he bared De Launay'schest. "Huh! These holes aren't a circumstance to what this hombre'shad in him before this. Reckon he's had a habit of mixing with cougarsor something like that! Here's a knife wound--old."
"A bayonet did that," said Solange.
"Soldier, eh! Well, he's used to bullet holes and it's a good thing.Hand me something to bandage him with, some one. He's lost a heap ofblood but there ain't anything he won't get over--that is, if you canget him out of this hole."
The man seemed competent enough, although, abandoning his practice tojoin the gold rush, he had brought few of the tools of his trade withhim. He gathered handkerchiefs and Solange ripped open her flannelshirtwaist and tore the lingerie beneath it to furnish him additionalcloth. She had collected herself and, although still shaky, was cooland efficient, her nurse's experience rendering the doctor invaluableaid. Together they soon stanched the bleeding and directed De Launay'sremoval to a near-by tent where he was laid upon ample bedding.
Then the doctor turned to Solange and Sucatash, who hovered around herlike a satellite.
"I've done what I can," he said. "But he'll not stand much chance ifhe's left up here. You'd better risk it and get him down to the Fallsif it can be done."
"But how can we take him?" cried Solange. "Surely it would kill him toride a horse."
"No, he can't," agreed the doctor. "But there is the dog team thatcame in to-night. You ought to get him to Wallace's with that and hecan probably stand it."
Solange turned at once and ran out to seek the driver of the dog team.The dogs lay about in the road but the man was not visible. Shehastily burst into the saloon again in the hope of finding him there.
The signs of conflict had been removed and men were once more lined upbefore the rude bar, discussing the fight in low voices.
They fell silent when Solange entered and most of them took off theirhats, although they had all been puzzled to explain her connectionwith the event and her actions before it had come off.
She paid no attention to them but swept the crowd looking for thenewcomer. He saved her the trouble of identifying him by comingforward.
"Ma'am," he said, with great embarrassment, "I'm Snake Murphy and Iwas grubstakin' that ornery coyote that Louisiana just beefed. I comein to-night with that dog team and I reckon that, accordin' to law,this here claim of Jim's belongs to me now that he's dead. But I wantsto say that I ain't robbin' no women after they come all the wayacross the ocean to find this here mine and--well--if half of it'llsatisfy you, it's yours!"
Solange seized him by the arm.
"You are the man with the dogs?" she cried.
"Yes ma'am."
"Then--you keep the mine--all of it, I do not want it. But you willlet us have the dogs that we may take Monsieur de Launay to thehospital? We must have the dogs. The mine--that is yours if youagree!"
Snake Murphy broke into a grin. "Why, ma'am, shore you're welcome tothe dogs. This here Louisiana shot me up once--but damned if I standsfer no one shootin' him from behind a woman that a way. Come on, andwe'll fix the sled!"
A few minutes later Solange had resumed her watch beside De Launaywhile, outside, Sucatash and Murphy were busy unloading the sled andgetting it ready for the wounded man.
De Launay slept, apparently. Solange sat patiently as the long hourspassed. At intervals he muttered in his sleep and she listened.Fragments of his life formed the subject of the words, incoherent anddisconnected. She caught references to the terrible years of existenceas a l?gionnaire and later snatches of as terrible scenes of warfare.
Once he spoke more clearly and his words referred to her.
"Morgan _la f?e_!--promised to be something interesting--more thanthat--worth living, perhaps, after all."
She dropped her hand over his and he clutched it, holding fast. Afterthat he was quiet, sleeping as easily as could be expected.
In the morning the doctor examined him again and said that the tripmight be taken. De Launay awoke, somewhat dazed and uncertain butcontented, evidently, at finding Solange at his side. He had fever butwas doing very well.
Solange gave him broth, and as he sipped it he looked now and then ather. Something seemed to be on his mind. Finally he unburdenedhimself.
"I was planning to save you the divorce," he said. "But I probablywill get well. It is too bad!"
"Why too bad?" asked Solange, with eyes on broth and spoon.
"After this even a Nevada divorce will mean notoriety for you. Andyou've lost the mine."
"I have not lost it," said Solange. "Monsieur Murphy gave me half ofit--but I traded it away."
"Traded it?"
"For a team of dogs to take you out. As for a divorce, Monsieur deLaunay, there is a difficulty in the way."
"A difficulty! What's that? All you have to do is establish aresidence. I'm still an American citizen--at least I never took stepsto be naturalized in France. Perhaps that's why they demoted me.Anyhow, such a marriage of form wouldn't hold a minute if you want tohave it annulled."
Solange blushed a little.
"But you forget. I cannot blame you for I hardly recalled it myselfuntil recently. I am a Catholic--and divorce is not allowed."
"But--even a Catholic could get an annulment--under the circumstances,if she wished it."
"But----" said Solange, and stopped.
"But what?"
"Be quiet, please! If you twist that way you will spill the broth. IfI wished--yes, perhaps."
"Solange!"
"But I--do not wish!"
De Launay lay still a moment, then:
"Solange!"
"Monsieur?"
"_W
hy_ don't you wish it?"
She stole a glance at him and then turned away. His face was damp andthe fever was glittering in his eyes but behind the fever was a greathunger.
"Husbands," said Solange, "are not plentiful, monsieur."
He sank back on the bed, sighing a little as though exhausted.Instantly Solange bent over him, frightened.
"Is that all?" she heard him mutter.
Slowly she stooped until her glimmering hair swept around his face andher lips met his.
"_M?chant!_" she breathed, softly. "That is not all. There isalso--this!"
Her lips clung to his.
Finally she straightened up and arranged her hair, smiling down athim, her cheeks flushed delicately and her eyes wonderfully soft.
"Morgan _la f?e_!" said De Launay. "My witch--my fairy lady!"
Solange kissed him lightly on the forehead and rose.
"We must be getting ready to go," she said. "It will be a hard trip, Iam afraid. But we shall get you down to the town and there is enoughmoney left to keep you in the hospital until you are well again. AndI shall find work until everything is all right again."
De Launay stared at her. "Hasn't Sucatash given you that note?"
"But what note?"
He laughed out loud.
"Call him in."
When the cow-puncher came in he held the note in his hand and held itout to Solange.
"I done forgot this till this minute, ma'am. The boss told me to giveit to you to-day--but I reckon it ain't needed yet."
"Open it," said De Launay.
Solange complied and took out the two inclosures. The first she readwas the will and her eyes filled at this proof of De Launay's care forher, although she had no idea that his estate was of value. Then sheunfolded the second paper. This she read with growing amazement.
"But," she cried, and stopped. She looked at him, troubled. "I did notknow!" she said, uncertainly.
His hand groped for hers and as she took it, timidly, he drew hercloser.
"Why," he said, "it makes no difference, does it, dear?"
She nodded. "It makes a difference," she replied. "I am not onethat----"
"You are one that traded a mine worth millions that I might have dogsto take me out," he interrupted. "Now I will buy those dogs from youand for them I will pay the value of a dozen gold mines. If you willkiss me again I will endow you with every oil well on my father'sancestral acres!"
Solange broke into a laugh and her eyes grew deep and mysterious againas she stooped to him while the embarrassed Sucatash sidled out underthe tent flap.
"You will make yourself poor," she said.
"I couldn't," he answered, "so long as Morgan _la f?e_ is with me inAvalon."
Sucatash called from outside, plaintively:
"I got the dogs fed and ready, mad'mo'selle--I mean, madame! Reckon webetter carry the gen'ral out, now!"
Solange threw back the flap to let him enter again.
"We are ready--for Avalon," she said.
"Wallace's ranch, you mean, don't you?" asked Sucatash.
"Yes--and Avalon also."
Then, as the stalwart Sucatash gathered the wounded man and liftedhim, she took De Launay's hand and walked out beside him.
THE END
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious spelling and punctuation errors repaired and noted.
Chapter I page 36 - "when I had ambition" Corrected typo: "ambiton"
page 48 - "the ex-l?gionnaire shepherding" Corrected typo: "ex-legionnaire"
- "Pyrenean wild cat" Corrected typo: "Pyreneen"
Chapter II page 52 - "_mariage de convenance_" Corrected (French) typo: "marriage"
Chapter V page 86 - "seemed to emanate from" Corrected typo: "eminate"
Chapter VI page 102 - ""A mad'mo'selle?" they echoed." Original "mad'moselle" is inconsistent with rest of text.
Chapter VII page 104 - "since fourteen ninety-two, I reckon." Original had a full-stop after "ninety-two"
Chapter VIII page 115 - "in her metallic voice" Corrected typo: "metalic"
Chapter IX page 123 - "disillusioned De Launay" Corrected typo: "dissillusioned"
page 126 - "were dully insistent" Corrected typo: "insistant"
page 132 - "the raft gyrated" Corrected typo: "girated"
page 134 - "meet hers squarely" Corrected typo: "her's" (N.B. apostrophe)
Chapter X page 141 - Added double-quote to start of chapter.
page 149 - "Other places had been warned" Corrected typo: "beeen"
Chapter XI page 154 - ""Remember the feller's singin', Jim?"" Added double-quote before 'Remember'
Chapter XII page 161 - "another motor car northward bound" Corrected typo: "nothward"
page 166 - "direction of my brother." Corrected typo: "directon"
Chapter XVI page 212 - "one whose brain" Corrected typo: "who's"
Chapter XVII page 236 - "subterranean forces" Corrected typo: "subterrannean"
Chapter XXII page 283 - "Rows of grommets" Corrected typo: "grommetts"
page 283 "indiscreet familiarities" Corrected typo: "familiarites"
Chapter XXIII page 309 - "get an annulment" Corrected typo: "annullment"
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