The Three Partners

by Bret Harte

  CHAPTER V.

  In the exercise of his arduous profession, Jack Hamlin had sat up allnight in the magnolia saloon of the Divide, and as it was rather earlyto go to bed, he had, after his usual habit, shaken off the sedentaryattitude and prepared himself for sleep by a fierce preliminarygallop in the woods. Besides, he had been a large winner, and on thoseoccasions he generally isolated himself from his companions to avoidfoolish altercations with inexperienced players. Even in fightingJack was fastidious, and did not like to have his stomach for a realdifficulty distended and vitiated by small preliminary indulgences.

  He was just emerging from the wood into the highroad when a buggy dashedpast him, containing a man and a woman. The woman wore a thick veil; theman was almost undistinguishable from dust. The glimpse was momentary,but dislike has a keen eye, and in that glimpse Mr. Hamlin recognizedVan Loo. The situation was equally clear. The bent heads and avertedfaces, the dust collected in the heedlessness of haste, the earlyhour,--indicating a night-long flight,--all made it plain to him thatVan Loo was running away with some woman. Mr. Hamlin had no moralscruples, but he had the ethics of a sportsman, which he knew Mr. VanLoo was not. Whether the woman was an innocent schoolgirl or an actress,he was satisfied that Van Loo was doing a mean thing meanly. Mr. Hamlinalso had a taste for mischief, and whether the woman was or was notfair game, he knew that for HIS purposes Van Loo was. With the greatestcheerfulness in the world he wheeled his horse and cantered after them.

  They were evidently making for the Divide and a fresh horse, or totake the coach due an hour later. It was Mr. Hamlin's present objectto circumvent this, and, therefore, it was quite in his way to return.Incidentally, however, the superior speed of his horse gave him theopportunity of frequently lunging towards them at a furious pace, whichhad the effect of frantically increasing their own speed, when he wouldpull up with a silent laugh before he was fairly discovered, and allowthe sound of his rapid horse's hoofs to die out. In this way he amusedhimself until the straggling town of the Divide came in sight, when,putting his spurs to his horse again, he managed, under pretense ofthe animal becoming ungovernable, to twice "cross the bows" of thefugitives, compelling them to slacken speed. At the second of thesepassages Van Loo apparently lost prudence, and slashing out with hiswhip, the lash caught slightly on the counter of Hamlin's horse. Mr.Hamlin instantly acknowledged it by lifting his hat gravely, and speededon to the hotel, arriving at the steps and throwing himself from thesaddle exactly as the buggy drove up. With characteristic audacity, heactually assisted the frightened and eager woman to alight and run intothe hotel. But in this action her veil was accidentally lifted. Mr.Hamlin instantly recognized the pretty woman who had been pointed outto him in San Francisco as Mrs. Barker, the wife of one of the partnerswhose fortunes had interested him five years ago. It struck him thatthis was an additional reason for his interference on Barker's account,although personally he could not conceive why a man should ever tryto prevent a woman from running away from him. But then Mr. Hamlin'spersonal experiences had been quite the other way.

  It was enough, however, to cause him to lay his hand lightly on VanLoo's arm as the latter, leaping down, was about to follow Mrs. Barkerinto the hotel. "You'll have time enough now," said Hamlin.

  "Time for what?" said Van Loo savagely.

  "Time to apologize for having cut my horse with your whip," said Jacksweetly. "We don't want to quarrel before a woman."

  "I've no time for fooling!" said Van Loo, endeavoring to pass.

  But Jack's hand had slipped to Van Loo's wrist, although he stillsmiled cheerfully. "Ah! Then you DID mean it, and you propose to give mesatisfaction?"

  Van Loo paled slightly; he knew Jack's reputation as a duelist. Buthe was desperate. "You see my position," he said hurriedly. "I'm in ahurry; I have a lady with me. No man of honor"--

  "You do me wrong," interrupted Jack, with a pained expression,--"you do,indeed. You are in a hurry--well, I have plenty of time. If you cannotattend to me now, why I will be glad to accompany you and the ladyto the next station. Of course," he added, with a smile, "at a properdistance, and without interfering with the lady, whom I am pleasedto recognize as the wife of an old friend. It would be more sociable,perhaps, if we had some general conversation on the road; it wouldprevent her being alarmed. I might even be of some use to YOU. If we areovertaken by her husband on the road, for instance, I should certainlyclaim the right to have the first shot at you. Boy!" he called to thehostler, "just sponge out Pancho's mouth, will you, to be ready when thebuggy goes?" And, loosening his grip of Van Loo's wrist, he turned awayas the other quickly entered the hotel.

  But Mr. Van Loo did not immediately seek Mrs. Barker. He had alreadysome experience of that lady's nerves and irascibility on the drive, andhad begun to see his error in taking so dangerous an impediment tohis flight from the country. And another idea had come to him. Hehad already effected his purpose of compromising her with him in thatflight, but it was still known only to few. If he left her behind forthe foolish, doting husband, would not that devoted man take her backto avoid a scandal, and even forbear to pursue HIM for his financialirregularities? What were twenty thousand dollars of Mrs. Barker's moneyto the scandal of Mrs. Barker's elopement? Again, the failure to realizethe forgery had left him safe, and Barker was sufficiently potent withthe bank and Demorest to hush up that also. Hamlin was now the onlyobstacle to his flight; but even he would scarcely pursue HIM if Mrs.Barker were left behind. And it would be easier to elude him if he did.

  In his preoccupation Van Loo did not see that he had entered thebar-room, but, finding himself there, he moved towards the bar; a glassof spirits would revive him. As he drank it he saw that the room wasfull of rough men, apparently miners or packers--some of them Mexican,with here and there a Kanaka or Australian. Two men more ostentatiouslyclad, though apparently on equal terms with the others, were standing inthe corner with their backs towards him. From the general silence as heentered he imagined that he had been the subject of conversation, andthat his altercation with Hamlin had been overheard. Suddenly one of thetwo men turned and approached him. To his consternation he recognizedSteptoe,--Steptoe, whom he had not seen for five years until last night,when he had avoided him in the courtyard of the Boomville Hotel. Hisfirst instinct was to retreat, but it was too late. And the spirits hadwarmed him into temporary recklessness.

  "You ain't goin' to be backed down by a short-card gambler, are yer?"said Steptoe, with coarse familiarity.

  "I have a lady with me, and am pressed for time," said Van Loo quickly."He knows it, otherwise he would not have dared"--

  "Well, look here," said Steptoe roughly. "I ain't particularly sweet onyou, as you know; but I and these gentlemen," he added, glancing aroundthe room, "ain't particularly sweet on Mr. Jack Hamlin neither, and wekalkilate to stand by you if you say so. Now, I reckon you want toget away with the woman, and the quicker the better, as you're afraidthere'll be somebody after you afore long. That's the way it pans out,don't it? Well, when you're ready to go, and you just tip us the wink,we'll get in a circle round Jack and cover him, and if he starts afteryou we'll send him on a little longer journey!--eh, boys?"

  The men muttered their approval, and one or two drew their revolversfrom their belts. Van Loo's heart, which had leaped at first at thisproposal of help, sank at this failure of his little plan of abandoningMrs. Barker. He hesitated, and then stammered, "Thank you! Haste iseverything with us now; but I shouldn't mind leaving the lady amongCHIVALROUS GENTLEMEN like yourselves for a few hours only, until Icould communicate with my friends and return to properly chastise thisscoundrel."

  Steptoe drew in his breath with a slight whistle, and gazed at Van Loo.He instantly understood him. But the plea did not suit Steptoe, who,for purposes of his own, wished to put Mrs. Barker beyond her husband'spossible reach. He smiled grimly. "I think you'd better take the womanwith you," he said. "I don't think," he added in a lower voice, "thatthe boys would like your leaving her. They're very high-toned, t
heyare!" he concluded ironically.

  "Then," said Van Loo, with another desperate idea, "could you not let ushave saddle-horses instead of the buggy? We could travel faster, and inthe event of pursuit and anything happening to ME," he added loftily,"SHE at least could escape her pursuer's vengeance."

  This suited Steptoe equally well, as long as the guilty couple fledTOGETHER, and in the presence of witnesses. But he was not deceived byVan Loo's heroic suggestion of self-sacrifice. "Quite right," he saidsarcastically, "it shall be done, and I've no doubt ONE of you willescape. I'll send the horses round to the back door and keep the buggyin front. That will keep Jack there, TOO,--with the boys handy."

  But Mr. Hamlin had quite as accurate an idea of Mr. Van Loo's methodsand of his OWN standing with Steptoe's gang of roughs as Mr. Steptoehimself. More than that, he also had a hold on a smaller but moredevoted and loyal following than Steptoe's. The employees and hostlersof the hotel worshiped him. A single word of inquiry revealed to himthe fact that the buggy was NOT going on, but that Mr. Van Loo andMrs. Barker WERE--on two horses, a temporary side-saddle having beenconstructed out of a mule's pack-tree. At which Mr. Hamlin, with hisusual audacity, walked into the bar-room, and going to the bar leanedcarelessly against it. Then turning to the lowering faces around him, hesaid, with a flash of his white teeth, "Well, boys, I'm calculating toleave the Divide in a few minutes to follow some friends in the buggy,and it seems to me only the square thing to stand the liquor for thecrowd, without prejudice to any feeling or roughness there may beagainst me. Everybody who knows me knows that I'm generally there whenthe band plays, and I'm pretty sure to turn up for THAT sort of thing.So you'll just consider that I've had a good game on the Divide, andI'm reckoning it's only fair to leave a little of it behind me here,to 'sweeten the pot' until I call again. I only ask you, gentlemen, todrink success to my friends in the buggy as early and as often as youcan." He flung two gold pieces on the counter and paused, smiling.

  He was right in his conjecture. Even the men who would have willingly"held him up" a moment after, at the bidding of Steptoe, saw no reasonfor declining a free drink "without prejudice." And it was a part ofthe irony of the situation that Steptoe and Van Loo were also obligedto participate to keep in with their partisans. It was, however, anopportune diversion to Van Loo, who managed to get nearer the doorleading to the back entrance of the hotel, and to Mr. Jack Hamlin, whowas watching him, as the men closed up to the bar.

  The toast was drunk with acclamation, followed by another and yetanother. Steptoe and Van Loo, who had kept their heads cool, were bothwondering if Hamlin's intention were to intoxicate and incapacitate thecrowd at the crucial moment, and Steptoe smiled grimly over his superiorknowledge of their alcoholic capacity. But suddenly there was thegreater diversion of a shout from the road, the on-coming of a cloud ofred dust, and the halt of another vehicle before the door. This time itwas no jaded single horse and dust-stained buggy, but a double teamof four spirited trotters, whose coats were scarcely turned with foam,before a light station wagon containing a single man. But that manwas instantly recognized by every one of the outside loungers andstable-boys as well as the staring crowd within the saloon. It was JamesStacy, the millionaire and banker. No one but himself knew that he hadcovered half the distance of a night-long ride from Boomville in twohours. But before they could voice their astonishment Stacy had throwna letter to the obsequious landlord, and then gathering up the reins hadsped away to the railroad station half a mile distant.

  "Looks as if the Boss of Creation was in a hurry," said one of the eagergazers in the doorway. "Somebody goin' to get smashed, sure."

  "More like as if he was just humpin' himself to keep from gettingsmashed," said Steptoe. "The bank hasn't got over the effect of theirsmart deal in the Wheat Trust. Everything they had in their handstumbled yesterday in Sacramento. Men like me and you ain't goin' totrust their money to be 'jockeyed' with in that style. Nobody but a manwith a swelled head like Stacy would have even dared to try it on. Andnow, by G-d! he's got to pay for it."

  The harsh, exultant tone of the speaker showed that he had quiteforgotten Van Loo and Hamlin in his superior hatred of the millionaire,and both men noticed it. Van Loo edged still nearer to the door, asSteptoe continued, "Ever since he made that big strike on Heavy Treefive years ago, the country hasn't been big enough to hold him. But markmy words, gentlemen, the time ain't far off when he'll find a two-footditch again and a pick and grub wages room enough and to spare for himand his kind of cattle."

  "You're not drinking," said Jack Hamlin cheerfully.

  Steptoe turned towards the bar, and then started. "Where's Van Loo?" hedemanded of Jack sharply.

  Jack jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Gone to hurry up his girl, Ireckon. I calculate he ain't got much time to fool away here."

  Steptoe glanced suspiciously at Jack. But at the same moment theywere all startled--even Jack himself--at the apparition of Mrs. Barkerpassing hurriedly along the veranda before the windows in the directionof the still waiting buggy. "D--n it!" said Steptoe in a fierce whisperto the man next him. "Tell her not THERE--at the back door!" But beforethe messenger reached the door there was a sudden rattle of wheels, andwith one accord all except Hamlin rushed to the veranda, only to seeMrs. Barker driving rapidly away alone. Steptoe turned back into theroom, but Jack also had disappeared.

  For in the confusion created at the sight of Mrs. Barker, he had slippedto the back door and found, as he suspected, only one horse, and thatwith a side-saddle on. His intuitions were right. Van Loo, when hedisappeared from the saloon, had instantly fled, taking the other horseand abandoning the woman to her fate. Jack as instantly leaped upon theremaining saddle and dashed after him. Presently he caught a glimpse ofthe fugitive in the distance, heard the half-angry, half-ironical shoutsof the crowd at the back door, and as he reached the hilltop saw, with amingling of satisfaction and perplexity, Mrs. Barker on the other road,still driving frantically in the direction of the railroad station. Atwhich Mr. Hamlin halted, threw away his encumbering saddle, and,good rider that he was, remounted the horse, barebacked but for hisblanket-pad, and thrusting his knees in the loose girths, again dashedforwards,--with such good results that, as Van Loo galloped up to thestagecoach office, at the next station, and was about to enter thewaiting coach for Marysville, the soft hand of Mr. Hamlin was laid onhis shoulder.

  "I told you," said Jack blandly, "that I had plenty of time. I wouldhave been here BEFORE and even overtaken you, only you had the betterhorse and the only saddle."

  Van Loo recoiled. But he was now desperate and reckless. Beckoning Jackout of earshot of the other passengers, he said with tightened lips,"Why do you follow me? What is your purpose in coming here?"

  "I thought," said Hamlin dryly, "that I was to have the pleasure ofgetting satisfaction from you for the insult you gave me."

  "Well, and if I apologize for it, what then?" he said quickly.

  Hamlin looked at him quietly. "Well, I think I also said something aboutthe lady being the wife of a friend of mine."

  "And I have left her BEHIND. Her husband can take her back withoutdisgrace, for no one knows of her flight but you and me. Do you thinkyour shooting me will save her? It will spread the scandal far and wide.For I warn you, that as I have apologized for what you choose to call mypersonal insult, unless you murder me in cold blood without witness, Ishall let them know the REASON of your quarrel. And I can tell you more:if you only succeed in STOPPING me here, and make me lose my chance ofgetting away, the scandal to your friend will be greater still."

  Mr. Hamlin looked at Van Loo curiously. There was a certain amountof conviction in what he said. He had never met this kind of creaturebefore. He had surpassed even Hamlin's first intuition of his character.He amused and interested him. But Mr. Hamlin was also a man of theworld, and knew that Van Loo's reasoning might be good. He put his handsin his pockets, and said gravely, "What IS your little game?"

  Van Loo had been seized with another inspiratio
n of desperation. Steptoehad been partly responsible for this situation. Van Loo knew that Jackand Steptoe were not friends. He had certain secrets of Steptoe's thatmight be of importance to Jack. Why should he not try to make friendswith this powerful free-lance and half-outlaw?

  "It's a game," he said significantly, "that might be of interest to yourfriends to hear."

  Hamlin took his hands out of his pockets, turned on his heel, and said,"Come with me."

  "But I must go by that coach now," said Van Loo desperately, "or--I'vetold you what would happen."

  "Come with me," said Jack coolly. "If I'm satisfied with what you tellme, I'll put you down at the next station an hour before that coach getsthere."

  "You swear it?" said Van Loo hesitatingly.

  "I've SAID it," returned Jack. "Come!" and Van Loo followed Mr. Hamlininto the station hotel.