CHAPTER XXII.
THE MURDER.
That evening, as the dusk fell, a slight figure in an Indian dress slippedto the low brush back of the cabin, and thence to the uplands.
It was 'Tana, ready to endure all the wilds of the woods, rather than staythere and meet again the man she had met the night before. She had sentthe squaw away; she had arranged in Mrs. Huzzard's tent a little game ofcards that would hold the attention of Lyster and the others; and then shehad slipped away, that she might, for just once more, feel free on themountain, as she had felt when they first located their camp in the sweetgrass of the Twin Springs.
The moon would be up after a while. She could not walk far, but she meantto sit somewhere up there in the high ground until the moon should roll upover the far mountains.
The mere wearing of the Indian dress gave her a feeling of being herselfonce more, for in the pretty conventional dress made for her by Mrs.Huzzard, she felt like another girl--a girl she did not know very well.
In the southwest long streaks of red and yellow lay across the sky, and aclear radiance filled the air, as it does when a new moon is born afterthe darkness. She felt the beauty of it all, and stretched out her arms asthough to draw the peaks of the hills to her.
But, as she stepped forward, a form arose before her--a tall, decidedform, and a decided voice said:
"No, 'Tana, you have gone far enough."
"Dan!"
"Yes--it is Dan this time, and not the other fellow. If he is waiting foryou to-night, I will see that he waits a long time."
"You--you!" she murmured, and stepped back from him. Then, her firstfright over, she straightened herself defiantly.
"Why do you think any one is waiting for me?" she demanded. "What do youknow? I am heartsick with all this hiding, and--and deceit. If you knowthe truth, speak out, and end it all!"
"I can't say any more than you know already," he answered--"not so much;but last night a man was in your cabin, a man you know and quarreled with.I didn't hear you; don't think I was spying on you. A miner who passed thecabin heard your voices and told me something was wrong. You don't give meany right to advise you or dictate to you, 'Tana, but one thing you shallnot do, that is, steal to the woods to meet him. And if I find him in yourcabin, I promise you he sha'n't die of old age."
"You would kill him?"
"Like a snake!" and his voice was harsher, colder, than she had ever heardit. "I'm not asking you any questions, 'Tana. I know it was the man whomyou--saw that night at the spring, and would not let me follow. I knowthere is something wrong, or he would come to see you, like a man, indaylight. If the others here knew it, they would say things not kind toyou. And that is why it sha'n't go on."
"Sha'n't? What right have you--to--to--"
"You will say none," he answered, curtly, "because you do not know."
"Do not know what?" she interrupted, but he only drew a deep breath andshook his head.
"Tana, don't meet this man again," he said, pleadingly. "Trust me to judgefor you. I don't want to be harsh with you. I don't want you to go awaywith hard thoughts against me. But this has got to stop--you must promiseme."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'd look for the man, and he never would meet you again."
A little shiver ran over her as he spoke. She knew what he meant, and,despite her bitter words last night to her visitor, the thought washorrible to her that Dan--
She covered her face with her hands and turned away.
"Don't do that, little girl," he said, and laid his hand on her arm."'Tana!"
She flung off his hand as though it stung her, and into her mind flashedremembrance of Jake Emmons from Spokane--of him and his words.
"Don't touch me!" she half sobbed. "Don't you say another word to me! I amgoing away to-morrow, and I have promised to marry Max Lyster."
His hand dropped to his side, and his face shone white in the wan glimmerof the stars.
"You have promised that?" he said, at last, drawing his breath hardthrough his shut teeth. "Well--it is right, I suppose--right. Come! I willtake you back to him now. He is the best one to guard you. Come!"
She drew away and looked from him across to where the merest rim of therising moon was to be seen across the hills. The thought of that othernight came to her, the night when they had stood close to each other inthe moonlight. How happy she had been for that one little space of time!And now--Ah! she scarcely dare allow him to speak kindly to her, lest shegrow weak enough to long for that blind content once more.
"Come, Tana."
"Go. I will follow after a little," she answered, without turning herhead.
"I may never trouble you to walk with you again," he said, in a low,constrained tone; "but this time I must see you safe in the tent before Ileave."
"Leave! Going! Where to?" she asked, and her voice trembled in spite ofherself. She clasped her hands tightly, and he could see the flash of thering he had given her. She had put it on with the Indian dress.
"That does not matter much, does it?" he returned; "but somewhere, farenough up the lake not to trouble you again while you stay. Come."
She walked beside him without another word; words seemed so useless. Shehad said words over and over again to herself all that day--words of hiswrong to her in not telling her of that other woman, words of reproach,bitter and keen; yet none of her reasoning kept her from wanting to touchhis hand as he walked beside her.
But she did not. Even when they reached the level by the springs, she onlylooked her farewell to him, but did not speak.
"Good-by," he said, in a voice that was not like Dan's voice.
She merely bowed her head, and walked away toward the tent where she heardMrs. Huzzard laughing.
She halted near the cabin, and then hurried on, dreading to enter it yet,lest she should meet the man she was trying to avoid.
Overton watched her until she reached the tent. The moon had just escapedthe horizon, and threw its soft misty light over all the place. He pulledhis hat low over his eyes, and, turning, took the opposite direction.
Only a few minutes elapsed when Lyster remembered he had promised Dan tolook after Harris, and rose to go to the cabin.
"I will go, too," said 'Tana, filled with nervous dread lest he encountersome one on her threshold, though she had all reason to expect that herdisguised visitor had come and gone ere that.
"Well, well, 'Tana, you are a restless mortal," said Mrs. Huzzard. "You'veonly just come, and now you must be off again. What did you do that youwanted to be all alone for this evening? Read verses, I'll go bail."
"No, I didn't read verses," answered 'Tana. "But you needn't go along tothe cabin."
"Well, I will then. You are not fit to sleep alone. And, if it wasn't forthe beastly snakes!--"
"We will go and see Harris," said the girl, and so they entered his cabin,where he sat alone with a bright light burning.
Some newspapers, brought by the captain, were spread before him on a roughreading stand rigged up by one of the miners.
He looked pale and tired, as though the effort of perusing them had beenrather too much for him.
Listen as she might, the girl could hear never a sound from her own cabin.She stood by the blanket door, connecting the two rooms, but not abreath came to her. She sighed with relief at the certainty that he hadcome and gone. She would never see him again.
"Shall I light your lamp?" asked Lyster; and, scarce waiting for a reply,he drew back the blanket and entered the darkness of the other cabin.
Two of the miners came to the door just then, detailed to look afterHarris for the night. One was the good-natured, talkative Emmons.
"Glad to see you are so much better, miss," he said, with an expansivesmile. "But you scared the wits nearly out of me this morning."
Then they heard the sputter of a match in the next room, and a sharp,startled cry from Lyster, as the blaze gave a feeble light to theinterior.
He staggered back among the rest, with t
he dying match in his fingers, andhis face ashen gray.
"Snakes!" half screamed Mrs. Huzzard. "Oh, my! oh, my!"
'Tana, after one look at Lyster, tried to enter the room, but he caughtand held her.
"Don't, dear!--don't go in there! It's awful--awful!"
"What's wrong?" demanded one of the miners, and picked up a lamp frombeside Harris.
"Look! It is Akkomi!" answered Lyster.
At the name 'Tana broke from him and ran into the room, even before thelight reached it.
But she did not take many steps. Her foot struck against something on thefloor, an immovable body and a silent one.
"Akkomi--sure enough," said the miner, as he saw the Indian's blanket."Drunk, I suppose--Indian fashion."
But as he held the light closer, he took hold of the girl's arm, and triedto lead her from the scene.
"You'd better leave this to us, miss," he added, in a grave tone. "The manain't drunk. He's been murdered!"
'Tana, white as death itself, shook off his grasp and stood with tightlyclasped hands, unheeding the words of horror around her, scarce hearingthe shriek of Mrs. Huzzard, as that lady, forgetful even of the snakes,sank to the floor, a very picture of terror.
'Tana saw the roll of money scattered over the couch; the little bag offree gold drawn from under the pillow. He had evidently been stooping tosecure it when the assassin crept behind him and left him dead there, witha knife sticking between his shoulders.
"The very knife you had to-day!" said Lyster, horror-stricken at thesight.
The miner with the lamp turned and looked at her strangely, and his eyesdropped from her face to her clasped hands, on which the ring of thesnakes glittered.
"Your knife?" he asked, and others, attracted by Mrs. Huzzard's scream,stood around the doors and looked at her too.
She nodded her head, scarce understanding the significance of it, andnever taking her eyes from the dead man, whose face was yet hidden.
"He may not be dead," she said, at last. "Look!"
"Oh, he's dead, safe enough," and Emmons lifted his hand. "Was he tryingto rob you?"
"I--no--I don't know," she answered, vaguely.
Then another man turned the body over, and utter surprise was on everyface; for, though it was Akkomi's blanket, it was a much younger man wholay there.
"A white man, by Heavens!" said the miner who had first entered. "A whiteman, with brown paint on his face and hands! But, look here!" and hepulled down the collar of the dead man's shirt, and showed a skin fair asa child's.
"Something terribly crooked here," he continued. "Where is Overton?"
Overton! At the name her very heart grew cold within her. Had he notthreatened he would kill the man who visited her at night? Had he comestraight to the cabin after leaving her? Had he kept his word? Had he--
"I think Overton left camp after supper--started for the lake," answeredsome one.
"Well, we'll do our best to get it straight without him, then. Some of yousee what time it is. This man has been dead about a half hour. Mr. Lyster,you had better write down all about it; and, if any one here has anyinformation to give, let him have it."
His eyes were on the girl's face, but she said nothing, and he bent towipe off the stain from the dead man's face. Some one brought water, andin a little while was revealed the decidedly handsome face of a man aboutforty-five years old.
"Do any of you know him?" asked the miner, who, by circumstance, appearedto have been given the office of speaker--"look--all of you."
One after another the men approached, but shook their heads; until an oldminer, gray-haired and weather-beaten, gave vent to a half-smothered oathat sight of him.
"Know him?" he exclaimed. "Well, I do, though it's five years since I sawhim. Heavens! I'd rather have found him alive than dead, though, for thereis a standing reward offered for him by two States. Why, it's thecard-sharper, horse-thief and renegade--Lee Holly!"
"But who could have killed him?"
"That is Overton's knife," said one of the men.
"But Overton had not had it since noon," said 'Tana, speaking for thefirst time in explanation. "I borrowed it then."
"You borrowed it? For what?"
"Oh--I forget. To cut a stick with, I think."
"You think. I'm sorry to speak rough to a lady, miss but this is a timefor knowing--not thinking."
"What do you mean by that?" demanded Lyster.
The man looked at him squarely.
"Nothing to offend innocent folks," he answered. "A murder has been donein this lady's room, with a knife she acknowledges she has had possessionof. It's natural enough to question her first of all."
The color had crept into her face once more. She knew what the man meant,and knew that the longer they looked on her with suspicion, the more timeOverton would have to escape. Then, when they learned they were on a falsescent, it would be late--too late to start after him. She wished he hadtaken the money and the gold. She shuddered as she thought him amurderer--the murderer of that man; but, with what skill she could, shewould keep them off his track.
Her thoughts ran fast, and a half smile touched her lips. Even with thatdead body at her feet, she was almost happy at the hope of saving him. Theothers noticed it, and looked at her in wonder. Lyster said:
"You are right. But Miss Rivers could know nothing of this. She has beenwith us since the moon rose, and that is more than a half-hour."
"No, only fifteen minutes," said one of the men.
"Well, where were you for the half-hour before the moon rose?" asked theman who seemed examiner. "That is really the time most interesting to thiscase."
"Why, good heavens, man!" cried Lyster, but 'Tana interrupted:
"I was walking up on the hill about that time."
"Alone?"
"Alone."
Mrs. Huzzard groaned dismally, and Lyster caught 'Tana by the hand.
"'Tana! think what you are saying. You don't realize how serious thisis."
"One more question," and the man looked at her very steadily. "Were younot expecting this man to-night?"
"I sha'n't answer any more of your questions," she answered, coldly.
Lyster turned on the man with clenched hands and a face white with anger.
"How dare you insult her with such a question?" he asked, hoarsely. "Howcould it be possible for Miss Rivers to know this renegade horse-thief?"
"Well, I'll tell you," said the man, drawing a long breath and looking atthe girl. "It ain't a pleasant thing to do; but as we have no courts uphere, we have to straighten out crimes in a camp the best way we can. Myname is Saunders. That man over there is right--this is Lee Holly; and Iam sure now that I saw him leave this cabin last night. I passed the cabinand heard voices--hers and a man's. I heard her say: 'While I can't quitedecide to kill you myself, I hope some one else will.' The rest of theirwords were not so clear. I told Overton when he came back, but the manwas gone then. You ask me how I dare think she could tell something ofthis if she chose. Well, I can't help it. She is wearing a ring I'll swearI saw Lee Holly wear three years ago, at a card table in Seattle. I'llswear it! And he is lying here dead in her room, with a knife sticking inhim that she had possession of to-day. Now, gentlemen, what do you thinkof it yourselves?"
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