An Oregon Girl: A Tale of American Life in the New West

by Alfred Ernest Rice

  CHAPTER VI.

  Sam had followed Virginia and stood unseen within ten yards of herwhen that morning she sat under the maple after she had leftConstance. He noted how absorbed she was in thought--noted her grave,white, shocked face, and her bowed head. His sympathy went out to her.Oh, what wouldn't he then have given to be able to clasp her in hisarms, to comfort her--the woman he so madly loved! Though free andimpulsive in his manner with other women, to her he was as coy andmodest and respectful as a boy of fifteen.

  He lingered near the premises for a time, from an impelling sympathyto be near her in her trouble, and hoping she would re-appear, but inthat he was disappointed.

  He returned again in the evening, resolved to call on her. He ascendedthe piazza steps and crossed to the door, but somehow at the momentcould not muster courage to push the button. After meditating for amoment, he turned and softly passed along the piazza. On reaching thesouth extension he halted, for the sound of a door softly closingcaught his ear, and then he saw Virginia emerging from the sideentrance, closely veiled. In a moment Sam was all alertness.

  He wondered at her veiled appearance at that hour, about half pastten, and at her avoiding the main front entrance. He followed at adistance and saw her enter a Washington and Twenty-third street car.He boarded the next one that came along.

  Fortunately the interval between the two cars was short, there havingbeen a breakdown on Fifth and Washington streets, resulting in thecars being bunched. Sam stood at the front end of the car beside themotorman, and in the darkness--the front inside blinds being down--wasable to keep a sharp lookout at the car just ahead.

  At the intersection of Washington and Twenty-third streets, theforward car stopped, and he distinctly saw a woman alight. "Virginia!"he muttered, and as his car passed on, he saw her walking toward thepark entrance. One block further along Twenty-third street Samalighted, and rapidly retraced his steps to Washington street. Onrounding the corner, and coming into view of the park entrance, whereblazed an arc light, he caught sight of her again, entering thegateway.

  Sam briskly covered the distance, keeping well under the line ofshadows.

  "Did you notice the path a lady took, who entered the park a minutesince?" he inquired of a park policeman.

  "Yes; that way!" and the policeman waved his hand to the left.

  "Thank you," and Sam followed the direction indicated. A strangeforeboding hurried him on. He was then fully aroused to somethingextraordinary about to happen. He walked on the grass wheneverpossible to muffle the sound of his footfalls, and soon was rewardedby making out the dim form of a woman some distance ahead, being stillin the range of the gate arc light. There was no mistaking the figure.From that moment he never lost sight of her.

  To avoid suspicion of shadowing her, he took a diverging path andboldly clambered over the hill, and proceeded toward the children'splaygrounds, apparently away from her. Passing on and in the directionof the reservoirs, he at length stopped at the fountain.

  He was the "man near the fountain" whom she discovered while she wasstanding under the cedar.

  Sam had stopped but a moment when, to his amazement, he discoveredVirginia suddenly had disappeared down the hillside. He at oncefollowed her, and was the man she again saw on the driveway beneathher. Again she disappeared, and he shrewdly suspected, into the deepshadow of the clump of firs nearby.

  He was straining his eyes diagonally up the slope, trying to penetratethe gloom, when a low scream of terror assailed his ears, and wasquickly followed by a low, reassuring masculine voice. He determinedto get near them. He threw himself flat against the bank and, shieldedsome by the unmowed grassy slope, dragged himself along for aboutfifty feet, to where the driveway, rounding westward, divided themfrom the long flight of steps. He passed within fifty feet of thecouple, then cautiously pulled himself near the summit. The ridge wasstrategically of great value. It enabled him to flank them unseen.

  He immediately availed himself of its cover and sneaked slowly andcautiously along the side of the crest to a point which he judged tobe near enough to them, and then he peered above the summit. Thecouple were between him and the dim city lights. He strained his earsto catch their words, and drew himself closer, inch by inch, fearingdiscovery, yet desperately anxious to catch the purpose of themeeting, and when he saw the glittering knife, his alarm gaveexpression in the low whistle.

  When he sprang on in pursuit of Jack, it was with a determination toascertain who he was, where he lived, and, if possible, to gain someknowledge of his purpose in this meeting with Virginia at such anunseasonable time and place.

  The few words of low-spoken conversation he had heard gave him no clueto the real object of the meeting; but he was convinced that somegrave and momentous purpose was involved to have induced Virginia tokeep so perilous an appointment alone.

  "Did she make the appointment?" The thought was no sooner uttered thanit gave place to another equally as suggestive, for just then thoughtsraced through Sam's brain with amazing rapidity. "Or, rather, was shenot compelled to meet the stranger by some power which he had obtainedover her--some secret of her life which she feared--a deathly fear, ofdisclosure, and which this man knew, and its power he knew only toowell, how to wield."

  The more he thought about it, the more the mystery, for such itappeared to him, deepened. He determined to fathom it. Inured to arough, open-air life on the Texas plains, his constitution was hardand tough, and well seasoned for the job presented--and, it must beconfessed, it was to his liking.

  Sam felt his blood tingle as his enthusiasm rose to the prospect of agenuine adventure, and he hurried along, over the soft, yieldinggrass, to catch sight of the fellow ahead. A clump of low bushessuddenly confronted him. It was an unusually dark spot, and then, forthe first time, he thought of the ugly knife the stranger haddisplayed, and realized that he himself was unarmed.

  He almost halted--wary of running into an ambush, and cautiously made awide detour, meanwhile alert for any sudden surprise from thedirection of the bush. Discovering no sign of a crouching figurethere, he hastened on, and finally caught sight of a moving shadow, asit crossed a faint shaft of light shot from a window of a dwelling onFord street, to his left.

  "Ah, I guess so. That's the party," he muttered to himself, and fromthat moment Sam was as keen on the trail as a sleuth on the scent,never losing sight of his quarry, but himself avoiding, as hebelieved, discovery.

  Occasionally, as the moon cleared from an obscuring cloud, he couldmake out the man halting under the shelter of a fir or clump ofsaplings, evidently to listen for sounds of a pursuer, and then,seemingly satisfied, again move on.

  So far the direction of his course was toward the reservoir, but of asudden he turned, and sharply cutting across Sam's front, swiftlyentered the deep gloom of a cluster of cedars, where he was lost tothe eyes of the pursuer.

  It was plain that his man intended to avoid exit by the main gate, orby Park avenue, a circumstance to cause Sam keen chagrin, for he hopedby an adroit move to get a good square look at the fellow's face as hewould pass under the entrance arc light.

  To the right, a foot path wound its way to the main gate. To the leftof a cluster of dark firs stretched a comparative level, past the bearpit, and right down to the deer corral; but what park features laybeyond and between the firs and corral, he could not determine. In hiseffort to mislead Sam, the fugitive had doubled on his track, and atthat moment was but a short distance west of the starting point. Samreasoned that this man would not cross that smooth, grassy plot, noremerge from his retreat and go down the path, but most likely wouldtake a direct course through the cluster of firs, and under theshelter of their dark shadow strike the fence directly opposite, andso reach the Barnes road, a hundred yards or so west of the park gate.

  It was obvious that time was an important factor. There being nopossible place of concealment between his present position and thefirs, he must either go back and take a circuitous route, or boldlyapproach by the path. He chose the latte
r. Skirting the firs--for hedared not enter the cluster's gloomy precincts in his defenselesscondition--he soon passed them and discovered a succession ofodd-looking shrubs, trained to fantastic growths by the gardener. Theyafforded excellent cover right down past the bear pit to the deercorral fence, which ran along the brow of the hill; farther down, asecond fence, which still exists, bounded the deer corral andseparated the park from the Barnes road. A little further along andagainst the upper picket fence (since removed), a mass of tangled ivyand Virginia creeper foliage, revelled in wild luxuriance.

  The vines had seized upon and had grown about and over some dwarflocust trees, forming a series of natural bowers, rather picturesqueby daylight, but at night, dismally dark and forbidding.

  Sam hesitated, which was well for him, for under the shadow of thesedark vines, Rutley and Jack Shore had met by previous arrangement.They were silently watching him.

  "I cannot shake him off. He tracks me like a bloodhound," Jackinformed his companion, in a whisper.

  "The meddlesome fool!" replied Rutley. "If he will not stop followingyou--why--he carries his life in his hands."

  "No, no! Not that. We don't want any killing in ours, Phil, anythingbut that. Who is he?"

  "Sam Harris. I saw him follow Virginia and was sure he would run foulof you."

  "The simpleton is harmless anyway. He is moving to the fence. See him?Hist!"

  After studying the wild growth for a few moments, Sam decided toapproach it by way of the fence. There he suddenly dropped to hisknees and crept noiselessly--very close beside the fence, toward thetangle. As he neared it he could make out its black cavernousrecesses. Twice he paused, his eyes strained with the utmost tensionof watchfulness against a surprise, for he now fully believed that theman he was attempting to shadow was a desperate character.

  However, he crept nearer, hardly stirring a blade of grass, socautious was his progress--so silent his movements. He listenedintently, scarcely breathing, lest its sound should betray hispresence. His hands gently touched a vine to part the leaves--instantlyhe was greeted with a hiss and a rattle, and then something glitteredclose to his eyes, which in the moment of his startled alarm hebelieved to be the glitter of a reptile's fangs. It caused him to boltsuddenly with a panicky feeling at his heart, and then it brought fromJack a soft chuckle of merriment.

  "He's not as plucky as the girl. We must throw him off the scent atany cost," whispered Rutley, "or we will be trapped." Suddenly he laidhis hand on Jack's arm and continued with a low, sardonic laugh: "Ihave it, Jack. You lead him down on the Barnes road; I'll meet himthere," and without any further delay Rutley slipped down the steepslope to his automobile, which lay in the deep shadow of the canyonwalls, a little further to the west, where he waited with the evilpurpose in his heart for the climax.

  Sam was no coward. He had faced dangerous situations fearlessly, butthat hiss and rattle, in the stillness of a dark, lonely andforbidding place, fairly raised his hair, and lent a lightness to hisfeet that amazed him, when he halted and noted the distance covered inthe few moments of his flight.

  "One of those deadly reptiles got out of the park zoo," he thought,"sneaked his way into that jungle--I guess so!" and he wiped the beadsof perspiration from his face as he added aloud: "An almighty closecall! But," and he looked up at the dark sky, and then around andabout, and as gathering confidence returned to him, continued: "Ishall not give up yet, not yet. I guess not."

  Yet it was apparent his pursuit of the stranger had signally failed,and he stood motionless wondering what course then best for him toadopt.

  True, he was in a dilemma, and instinctively realized that to remainin the park was useless. So, without forming any practical conclusion,and for the purpose of keeping active, he again moved toward thefence. It was then he conceived the notion to climb over the fence andmake a short descent to the gate, in order to catch sight of Virginia,for she could not be far away yet, and to follow her and secretly toprotect her on her return to her home. With that object in mind, heclimbed the fence, and, securing a position on its top, lookedcautiously about. He was some distance to the west of the tangle ofvines, from which he was screened by the foliage of a small tree thatgrew nearby.

  Sam--"One of those deadly reptiles got out of the ParkZoo."]

  The gate light threw a faint glimmer along the fence, and on theBarnes road in the gorge below. He peered down the steep hillside, andlooked up and down the road. There being no one in sight, he let hislegs slip quietly down the other side of the fence, and graduallylowered himself, without sustaining other injury than a few trivialscratches. As he brushed mechanically the debris which had clung tohis clothes, he was surprised to see the figure of a man step out,seemingly from the fence itself, and slip down the hillside, andclimbing the lower fence, cross the almost dry bed of the stream,close to the road, and proceed cityward.

  Sam was sure the man, whoever he was, had not been on the corral sideof the fence a moment before, and to give the mysterious appearance adeeper significance, the point of exit was about the location of thetangled vines. The appearance of the man differed from the one he hadfollowed, inasmuch that one had on a long coat and bushy beard, theother wore a short pilot coat and mustache. For a moment Sam waspuzzled, and he scratched his head. Suddenly he broke out in anunconscious whisper to himself, as though urged on by somesupernatural agency, for afterward it surprised him when he thought ofthat moment: "Damned if I don't think he's the same party I've beenafter, disguised."

  And he made straight for the place, as near as he could estimate,where the man had emerged.

  It was a few moments before he found it, but a close examination soonrevealed two yielding pickets of the fence. True, just sufficient toadmit a man's body sideways, but there it was, as he afterwardsdiscovered, and perfectly screened from observation by masses ofslender leaf-laded branches and twigs. The inner, bushy part beingskilfully cut away. The trick employed to evade him was now palpable.The hiss, the buzzing rattle, the glitter--"Ah; it was the glitter of asteel blade"--and at the thought he shivered, as with an icy chill, forhe realized how dangerously near a death-trap he had ventured. As thereaction came, his face flamed with the hot blood of indignation andchagrin at the smart dodge by which he had been temporarily baffled.

  In the distance, down near the park entrance, was still dimly visiblethe retreating form of a man. Sam determined to follow him.

  He slid and partly tumbled down the steep hillside, sprang over thelower fence, and crossed the bed of the creek and on to the road--andwas so intent on his mission that he did not hear or see, until it wasalmost upon him, a dark, noiseless machine, approaching from the rear.He moved hastily aside to let it pass, but to his intenseastonishment, the automobile followed him with evident intention ofrunning him down. Again he sprang aside, but too late. The front wheelgrazed his left leg and swung him around on to the rear wheel, whichhurled him violently to the ground.

  Having accomplished his purpose, Rutley at once stopped the machine,alighted, and examined Sam.

  He was soon joined by Jack, who asked, in a low voice: "Have youkilled him?"

  "I don't think so. Bad gash on the side of his head, though."

  "Dangerous?"

  "Impossible for me to say."

  "Just unconscious?" anxiously inquired Jack.

  "Yes; but I don't think he will interfere with us again for some time.What shall we do with him?"

  "Take him home."

  "Good idea," grunted Rutley. "It becomes you decidedly well, Jack,after being a villain, to play the good Samaritan. Well, take thishandkerchief and bind his wound," and he raised Sam's head while Jackbound up the wound.

  "It will make old Harris feel under an obligation to me."

  "And you can touch him for the loan of ten thousand, to squareaccounts," added Jack. And again Rutley laughed.

  "Come, let's pack him on to the machine."