Shoe-Bar Stratton

by Joseph Bushnell Ames

  CHAPTER XXXIII

  CARRIED AWAY

  The same dawn unrolled before the eyes of a man and a girl, ridingsouthward along the ragged margin of the T-T ranch. Westward stretched thewide, rolling range-land, empty at the moment of any signs of life. Andsomehow, for the very reason that one expected something living there, itseemed even more desolate than the rough, broken country bordering themountains on the other side.

  That, at least, was Mary Thorne's thought. Emerging from the mountaintrail just as dawn broke, her eyes brightened as she took in the flat,familiar country, even noting a distant line of wire fence, and for thefirst time in many hours despair gave place to sudden hope. Where therewas range-land there must be cattle and men to tend them, and herexperience with Western cow-men had not been confined to those of Lynch'stype. Him she knew now, to her regret and sorrow, to be the greatexception. The majority were clean-cut, brave, courteous, slow of speech,perhaps, but swift in action; simple of mind and heart--the sort of man,in short, to whom a woman in distress might confidently turn for help.

  But presently, as the rising sun, gilding the peaks that towered aboveher, emphasized the utter emptiness of those sweeping pastures, the lightdied out of her eyes and she remembered with a sinking heart the blacklegscourge which had so recently afflicted the T-T outfit. There had beenmuch discussion of it at the Shoe-Bar, and now she recalled vaguelyhearing that it had first broken out in these very pastures. Doubtless, asa method of prevention, the surviving stock had been moved elsewhere, andher chances for help would be as likely in the midst of a trackless desertas here.

  The reaction made her lips quiver and there swept over her with renewedforce that wave of despair which had been gaining strength all throughthose interminable black hours. She had done her best to combat it. Overand over again she told herself that the situation was far from hopeless.Something must happen. Some one--mostly she thought of Buck, though shedid not name him even to herself--would come to her aid. It was incrediblethat in this day and generation a person could be successfully carried offeven by one as crafty, resourceful, and unscrupulous as Tex Lynch. But inspite of all her reasoning there remained in the back of Mary's mind afeeling of cold horror, born of those few sentences she had overheardwhile Pedro was saddling the horses. Like a poisonous serpent, it rearedits ugly head persistently, to demolish in an instant her most speciousarguments. The very thought of it now filled her with the same fear anddread that had overwhelmed her when the incredible words first burned intoher consciousness, and made her glance with a sudden, sharp terror at theman beside her. She met a stare from his bold, heavy-lidded eyes that sentthe blood flaming into her cheeks.

  "Well?" queried Lynch, smiling. "Feelin' better, now it's mornin'?"

  The girl made no answer. Hastily averting her eyes, she rode on insilence, lips pressed together and chin a little tilted.

  "Sulking, eh?" drawled Lynch. "What's the good? Yuh can't keep that sortof thing up forever. After we're--married--"

  He paused significantly. The girl's lip quivered but she set her teethinto it determinedly. Presently, with an effort, she forced herself tospeak.

  "Aren't you rather wasting time trying to--to frighten me with that sortof rubbish?" she asked coldly. "In these days marriage isn't somethingthat can be forced."

  The man's laugh was not agreeable. "Oh, is that so?" he inquired. "You'relikely to learn a thing or two before long, I'll say."

  His tone was so carelessly confident, so entirely assured, that in aninstant her pitiful little pretense of courage was swept away.

  "It isn't so!" she cried, turning on him with wide eyes and quiveringlips. "You couldn't-- There isn't a--real clergyman who'd do--do such athing. No one could force me to--to-- Why, I'd rather die than--"

  She paused, choking. Lynch shrugged his shoulders.

  "Oh, no, yuh wouldn't," he drawled. "Dyin' is mighty easy to talk about,but when yuh get right down to it, I reckon you'd change yore mind. Idon't see why yore so dead set against me," he added. "I ain't so hard tolook at, am I? An' with me as yore husband, things will--will be mightydifferent on the ranch. You'll never have to pinch an' worry like yuh donow."

  Tears blinded her, and, turning away quickly, she stared unseeing througha blurring haze, fighting desperately for at least a semblance ofself-control. He was so confident, so terribly sure of himself! What if hecould do the thing he said? She did not see how such a ghastly horrorcould be possible; but then, what did she know of conditions in the placeto which he was taking her?

  Suddenly, as she struggled against that overpowering weight of misery anddespair, her thoughts flew longingly to another man, and for an instantshe seemed to look into his eyes--whimsical, a little tender, with a fainttouch of suppressed longing in their clear gray depths.

  "Buck! Oh, Buck!" she yearned under her breath.

  Then of a sudden she felt a hand on her bridle and became aware that Lynchwas speaking.

  "We'll stop here for a bit," he informed her briefly. "You'd better getdown and stretch yoreself."

  She looked at him, a little puzzled. "I'm quite comfortable as I am," shereturned stiffly.

  "I expect yuh are," he said meaningly. "But I ain't takin' any chances."With a wave of his hand he indicated a steepish knoll that rose up ontheir left. "I'm goin' up there to look around an' see what the countrylooks like ahead," he explained. "I'll take both cayuses along, jest incase yuh should take the notion to go for a little canter. Sabe?"

  Without a word she slipped out of the saddle and, moving to one side,listlessly watched him gather up the reins of her horse and ride towardthe foot of the hill. Its lower levels sloped easily, and in spite of thehandicap of the led horse, who pulled back and seemed reluctant to follow,Lynch took it with scarcely a pause.

  There came a point, however, about half way to the summit, from which hewould have to proceed on foot. Lynch dismounted briskly enough and tiedboth horses to a low bush. Then, instead of starting directly on thebrief upward climb, he turned and glanced back to where Mary stood.

  That glance, indicating doubt and suspicion, set the girl suddenly towondering. Ever so little her slim figure straightened, losing itsdiscouraged droop. Was it possible? He seemed to think so, or why had helooked back so searchingly? Guardedly her glance swept to right and left.A hundred feet or so to the south a spur of the little hill thrust out,hiding what lay beyond. If she could reach it, might there not possibly besome spot in all that jumble of rocks and gullies where she at least mighthide?

  Filled with a new wild hope; realizing that nothing she might do couldmake her situation worse, Mary's eyes returned to the climbing man, andshe watched him narrowly. Little by little, when his back was toward her,she edged toward the spur. She told herself that when he reached the topshe would make a dash, but in the end her tense, raw nerves played herfalse. Quivering with eagerness, she held herself together until he waswithin twenty feet or more of the summit, and then her self-controlsnapped abruptly.

  She had covered scarcely a dozen yards over the rough ground when a hoarseshout of surprise came from Lynch, followed by the clatter of rollingstones as he plunged back down the hill. But she did not turn her head;there was no time or need. Running as she had never run before, sherounded the spur and with a gasp of dismay saw that the cliffs curved backabruptly, forming an intervening open space that seemed to extend formiles, but which, in reality, was only a few hundred yards across.

  Still she did not halt, but sped on gamely, heading for the mouth of thenearest gully. Presently the thud of hoofs terrified her, but stung her toeven greater effort. Nearer the hoofs-beats came, and nearer still.Breathless, panting, she knew now she could never reach the gully. Therealization sent her heart sinking like a lead plummet, but fear drove herblindly on. Suddenly the bulk of a horse loomed beside her and a man'seasy, sneering laugh bit into her soul like vitriol. An instant laterLynch leaped from his saddle and caught her around the waist.

  "Yuh would, would yuh?" he cried, gazing down into
her flushed, frightenedface. "Tried to shake me, eh?"

  For a moment he held her thus, devouring her with his eyes, holding thebridles of both horses in his free hand. Then all at once he laughedagain, hatefully, and crushing her to him, he kissed her, roughly,savagely--kissed her repeatedly on the lips and cheeks and throat.

  Mary cried out once and tried to struggle. Then of a sudden her musclesrelaxed and she lay limply in his arms, eyes closed, wishing that shemight die, or, better yet, that some supreme force would suddenly strikethe creature dead.

  How long she lay there shuddering with disgust and loathing, she did notknow. It seemed an eternity before she realized that his lips no longertouched her, and opening her eyes she was startled at the sight of hisface.

  It was partly turned away from her as he stared southward across theflats. His eyes were wide, incredulous, and filled with a mingling ofanger and dismay. In another moment he jerked her roughly to her feet,dragged her around to the side of her horse, and fairly flung her into thesaddle. Vaulting into his own, he spurred the beast savagely and rode backtoward the out-thrust spur at a gallop, dragging the unwilling Freckleswith him.

  Gripping the saddle-horn to keep her precarious seat, Mary yet found timefor a hurried backward glance before she was whisked out of sight of thatwide stretch of open country to the south. But that glance was enough tomake her heart leap. Dots--moving dots which she had no difficulty inrecognizing as horsemen--were sweeping northward along the edge of thebreaks. Who they were she neither knew nor cared. It was enough that theywere men. Her eyes sparkled, and a wild new hope flamed up within her,even though she was being carried swiftly away from them.

  Once in the shelter of the spur, Lynch did not halt but rode on at fullspeed, heading northward. For half a mile or so the thudding hoof-beats ofthe two horses alone broke the silence. Then, as their advance opened up afresh sweep of country, Lynch jerked his mount to a standstill with asuddenness that raised a cloud of dust about them.

  "Hell!" he rasped, staring from under narrowing lids.

  For full half a minute he sat motionless, his face distorted with baffledfury and swiftly growing fear. Then his eyes flashed toward the hills onthe right and swept them searchingly. A second later he had turned hiscayuse and was speeding towards a narrow break between two spurs, keepinga tight hold on the girl's bridle.

  "You try any monkey tricks," he flung back over one shoulder, "andI'll--kill yuh."

  Mary made no answer, but the savage ferocity of his tone made her shiver,and she instantly abandoned the plan she had formed of trying, by littletouches of hand and heel, to make Freckles still further hamper Lynch'sactions. Through the settling dust-haze she had seen the cause of hisperturbation--a single horseman less than a mile away galloping straighttoward them--and felt that her enemy was cornered. But the very strengthof her exultation gave her a passionate longing for life and happiness,and she realized vividly the truth of Lynch's callous, sneering words,that when one actually got down to it, it was not an easy thing to die.She must take no chances. Surely it could be only a question of a littletime now before she would be free.

  But presently her high confidence began to fade. With the manner of one onperfectly familiar ground, Lynch rode straight into the break between therocks, which proved to be the entrance to a gully that widened and thenturned sharply to the right. Here he stopped and ordered Mary to ride infront of him.

  "You go ahead," he growled, flinging her the reins. "Don't lose any time,neither."

  Without question she obeyed, choosing the way from his occasional, terselyflung directions. This led them upward, slowly, steadily with many a twistand turn, until at length, passing through a narrow opening in the rocks,Mary came out suddenly on a ledge scarcely a dozen feet in width. On oneside the cliffs rose in irregular, cluttered masses, too steep to climb.On the other was a precipitous drop into a canyon of unknown depth.

  "Get down," ordered Lynch, swinging out of his saddle.

  As she slid to the ground he handed her his bridle-reins.

  "Take the horses a ways back an' hold 'em," he told her curtly. "An'remember this: Not a peep out of yuh, or it'll be yore last. Nobody yet'sdouble-crossed me an' got away with it, an' nobody ain't goin' to--noteven a woman. That canyon's pretty deep, an' there's sharp stones a-plentyat the bottom."

  White-faced and tight-lipped, she turned away from him without a word andled the two horses back to the point he indicated. The ledge, which slopedsharply upward, was cluttered with loose stones, and she moved slowly,avoiding these with instinctive caution and trying not to glance towardthe precipice. A dozen feet away she paused, holding the horses tightly bytheir bridles and pressing herself against the lathered neck of Freckles,who she knew was steady. Then she glanced back and caught her breath witha swift, sudden intake.

  Kneeling close to the opening, but a little to one side, Lynch waswhirling the cylinder of his Colt. Watching him with fascinated horror,Mary saw him break the weapon, closely inspect the shells, close it again,and test the trigger. Then, revolver gripped in right hand, he settledhimself into a slightly easier position, eyes fixed on the opening andhead thrust a little forward in an attitude of listening.

  Only too well she guessed his purpose. He was waiting in ambush to "get"that solitary horseman they had seen riding from the north. Whether or nothe had come here for the sole purpose of luring the other to his death,Mary had no notion. But she could see clearly that once this stranger wasout of the way, Lynch would at least have a chance to penetrate into themountains before the others from the south arrived to halt him.

  Slowly, interminably the minutes ticked away as the girl stood motionless,striving desperately to think of something she might do to prevent thecatastrophe. If only she had some way of knowing when the stranger wasnear she might cry out a warning, even at the risk of Lynch's violence.But thrust here in the background as she was, the unknown was likely tocome within range of Lynch's gun before she even knew of his approach.

  Suddenly, out of the dead silence, the clatter of a pebble struck on thegirl's raw nerves and made her wince. She saw the muscles of Lynch's backstiffen and the barrel of his Colt flash up to cover the narrow entranceto the ledge. For an instant she hesitated, choked by the beating of herheart. Should she cry out? Was it the man really coming? Her dry lipsparted, and then all at once a curious, slowly moving object barelyvisible above the rocky shoulder that sheltered Lynch, startled her andkept her silent.

  In that first flash she had no idea what it was. Then abruptly the truthcame to her. It was the top of a man's Stetson. The ledge sloped upward,and where she stood it was a good two feet higher than at the entrance. Aman was riding up the outer slope and, remembering the steepness of it,Mary knew that, in a moment, more of him would come into view before hebecame visible to Lynch.

  White-faced, dry-lipped, she waited breathlessly. Now she could see theentire hat. A second later she glimpsed the top of an ear, a bit offorehead, a sweeping look of dark-brown hair--and her heart died suddenlywithin her.

  The man was Buck Green!