CHAPTER XVII
PEACE--AND THE PRICE
In the justice court at Vegas the Widow Huff met her match in the personof the magistrate, who warned her peremptorily that if she interruptedagain he would commit her for contempt of court. Then the bailiff smotehis desk a resounding blow and there was silence in the presence of thelaw. It was a new thing to her, this power called the law and thataccuser of all offenders, The People; and before she had finished shelearned the great truth that no one is above the law. It governs us alland, but for the mercy of the courts, would land most of our hot-headsin jail. But though it was proved beyond the peradventure of a doubtthat the Widow had attempted violence it was tacitly understood that,being a woman, there would be no actual commitment.
Wiley Holman came forward and informed the court that the defendant hadthreatened his life and upon two occasions and had made assaults uponhis person with the avowed intention of killing him. Upon beingquestioned by the judge he admitted recognizing a shotgun, and threebuckshot which had been extracted from his leg; but in a voluntarystatement he expressed the opinion that the defendant was hardlyresponsible. At the same time, he stated, since his place of businesswas not far from the defendant's home, he would respectfully requestthat she be placed in custody and bound over to keep the peace. Thetestimony of the officer and of other witnesses left no doubt as to theexistence of a threat and after the Widow had made a chastened speechshe was placed in the custody of the sheriff.
To this humiliation was added the greater pang of depositing all herjewels with her bondsmen and when it was over and she was back in herhome the Widow's proud spirit was broken. She retired to the kitchen andthe balm of a great peace was laid upon tumultuous Keno. For years thebold ego of Colonel Huff's wife had dominated the very life of the camp,but the son of Honest John had at last found a way of putting her angerin leash. Rage as she might in the privacy of her kitchen, or pour outher woes to the neighbors, when Wiley Holman came by she turned away herface and allowed him to pass in silence. And Wiley himself never gaveher a glance, nor Virginia when he met her in the street; for the memoryof their insults was still hot in his brain, and all he asked for waspeace.
He was safe, at last, safe to remodel the mill and bring up the ore fromthe mine; but as his work grew and prospered the anger died in hisbreast and his heart turned back to Virginia. She was quiet now, withaverted eyes and the sad, brooding face of a nun; and she worked earlyand late in the crowded dining-room, serving meals to the hard-rockminers. He had closed down his cook-house to give them some patronage,when the first mad rush of prospectors was past; but though they fed hismen and took the money that he had paid them, they owned no obligationto him.
In the Paymaster the pumps were working steadily now, clearing the waterfrom the submerged passages, and as the first checks came back inpayment for his tungsten he ordered more timbers and men. There wasplenty of ore on the dump for the moment but, while he separated it fromthe waste and shipped it to town, he caught up the falling ground in thedrifts and prepared to stope out the scheelite. In the old, dismantledmill he had a crew working over-time, installing a rock-crusher and aconcentrating plant; and every truck that brought out timbers andsupplies took back its tons of ore. The price of tungsten leapt fromforty dollars a unit to sixty and sixty-five, and rival buyers clamoredfor his ore; the mills treated it for almost nothing in order to getcontrol of it and his credit was A1 at the bank--but when he passedVirginia she turned her face away and his heart turned heavy as lead.
It was the price of success, and Wiley recognized it, but he rebelledagainst his fate. What fault was it of his that her father and hisfather had fallen out over the mine? He had shown by the stock that thetreachery had been Blount's and neither of them was to blame. What faultwas it of his that she had a shrewish mother who was bent upon ruiningher life? Had he not endured abuse and suffered grievous wounds beforehe had asserted his rights? And with Virginia herself, when had thereever been a time when he had forgotten his lover's part--except on thatlast day, when he had turned like a trodden worm and protested his rightto live? And yet she blamed him for all her misfortunes and for everyday that she slaved; and even took the stock which he had returned as apeace-offering and hurled it in his face!
Wiley's lips set grimly as he gazed at the certificates for which menhad striven and died. There were some from her father, transferred onher birthdays when the stock was around thirty and forty; and othersfrom old prospectors like Henry Masters, who had left it to Virginiawhen they died. She had sent it to him by Charley, out of shame for herharsh words, and he had bought it for four hundred dollars, half themoney that he had in the world. Those had been happy days, in spite ofthe anxiety, for he had made the sacrifice for her; and to prove hisdevotion--and make a peace-offering against the explosion that was boundto come--he had given the stock back to Virginia. That was when he was aprospector, doing business on a shoe-string, a racing car and a diamondring; but now when he had made his _coup_ and could write his checkfor thousands she threw the stock back in his face.
The stock had a value now for, under the terms of the bond and lease,one-tenth of the net mill returns were automatically withheld and turnedin to the company as royalty; and if for any reason he failed to meetthe payment when the fifty thousand-dollar option expired, then thisstock and all Paymaster stock would take a sudden jump to five or tendollars a share. And the stock was hers--she had received it from herfather when he was the mining king of the West, and from old man Masterswhen he was dying in the cabin where she had helped to care for him formonths--yet she would not accept it as a gift. Wiley pondered a longtime and then, as Christmas drew near, he sent for Death Valley Charley.
"Charley," he began, when he came up that night, "did I understand youto say one time that you were acting as a kind of guardian to Virginia?Well, now here's a bunch of stock that you sold to me once when you wereslightly off your cabeza. There's over twelve thousand shares and allyou asked was four hundred dollars, when you knew they were worth eighthundred at least."
"Yes, that's so," admitted Charley, blinking and rubbing his chin, "butyou know them women, Wiley. They're crazy, that's all, and the Colonelhe told me special not to let them lose their mine."
"Well, never mind the mine," said Wiley wincing. "I'm talking about thisstock. Don't you think it's your duty, by George, as guardian, to turnaround and buy it back? You've got five thousand dollars coming to youon those claims of yours and I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm short,right now on account of buying machinery, and so I can't pay you muchcash; but if you'll take this stock back in part payment of your claimsI'll give you four hundred more."
"Well, all right," agreed Charley after gazing at him thoughtfully, "butyou ought to give back that mine. The Colonel, he told me----"
"What do you mean, give it back?" demanded Wiley, irritably. "It isn'tmy property yet. I've got to pay for it first and get it away from oldBlount before I can give it to anybody. That's fifty thousand dollarsthat I've got to make clear between now and the twentieth of May; butbelieve me, Charley, if I once get it paid for I'm going to do somethingnoble."
"That's good," assented Charley, "but you've got to pay me, rightoff--there's something going to happen!" His sun-dazed eyes opened upwide with excitement and he listened long and earnestly at the doorbefore he tiptoed back to Wiley's desk. "I can hear 'em," he said."They're going to blow up the mine and shake the mountains down.They're boring through the ground, but I can hear them working--it'slike worms eating their way through wood."
"Is that so?" queried Wiley. "Well, maybe we can stop 'em. I'll lookafter it, right away. But now about this stock----"
"It's the Germans!" burst out Charley. "They've got boring machines thateat through mountains like wood. And then, _bumm_, it's them mines,and the dynamite bombs----"
"Yes, it's awful," agreed Wiley, "but here's your money, Charley; somaybe you'd better go. And you keep this stock now, until it comesChristmas; and then, Christmas Eve, you slip into t
he house and put itin Virginia's stocking."
"Oh--yes," agreed Charley, still listening to the Germans and then hebecame lost in deep thought. "The Colonel will kill me," he said atlast. "It's Christmas, and I ain't brought his whiskey."
"Why, what's the matter?" joshed Wiley. "Why didn't you deliver it? Didyou get caught in a sandstorm, or what?"
"Yes, a sandstorm," answered Charley, solemnly. "It came down the valleylike a wall. And my burros got away; but the Colonel, he found me--I wasdigging a hole in the sand."
"Say, where are these Ube-Hebes?" broke in Wiley impulsively. "I'd liketo go over there some time."
"They're across Death Valley," answered Charley smiling craftily, "--onthe west side, in the Funeral Range. The Coffin mine is there--I used towork in it--but they put me underground with a stiff for a pardner so Iquit and come back to town."
"Yes, I heard about that; but you forgot something, Charley--how aboutthat graveyard shift? But I'll tell you what I'll do, if you'll take meto the Colonel I'll help Virginia get back her mine."
He plumped the statement at him, for Charley was an innocent who spokeout the truth when he was jumped, but for once he detected the ruse.
"The Colonel's dead," he answered sulkily and picked up his hat to go.
"I doubt it!" scoffed Wiley. "I met a man the other day who said he'dseen him--in the Ube-Hebes mountains."
"He did?" exclaimed Charley, and then he drew back and his eyes flashedwith angry resentment. "You're a liar!" he burst out. "The Colonel isdead. He never said anything of the kind."
"Yes, he did," insisted Wiley, "and you know the man well. He's got alittle dog like Heine."
"He's a liar!" cried Charley savagely, "and don't you go to talking orI'll make you wish you hadn't."
"No, I won't," assured Wiley, "but here's the proposition--the Colonelleft a lot of stock. And Mrs. Huff, being crazy, gave it all to Blounton a loan of eight hundred dollars. But if the Colonel should come backthat transfer would be illegal and he could fix it to get back the mine.So don't talk to me about giving Virginia her mine--you go out and bringin the Colonel."
"He's dead!" yelled Charley, scrabbling madly out the door. "You're aliar--I tell you he's dead!"
"Yes, he's dead," observed Wiley, "just the same as I am. I'll have toget old Charley drunk."
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