CHAPTER XXIII
FOR THE ALTARS OF HIS TRIBE
The first sound that Betty heard when consciousness began to return toher was a loud pounding at the kitchen door.
She had fallen to the floor just beneath the shelf on which the lampsat, and she raised herself on an elbow and looked around. At firstshe did not remember what had happened, and then she saw Taggart, lyingface upward on the floor near her, the frightful hole in his forehead,and she shuddered as recollection in a sickening flood came to her.Bob, dear Bob, had not failed her.
She got up, trembling a little, breathing a prayer of thankfulness,shrinking from the Thing that lay on the floor at her feet with itshorror-stricken eyes staring straight up at the ceiling, making her wayto the kitchen door, for the pounding had grown louder and moreinsistent, and she could hear a voice calling hoarsely to her.
But it did not seem to be Bob's voice; it was deeper and more resonant,and vibrated clearly, strongly, and with passion. It was strangelyfamiliar, though, and she shook a little with a nameless anxiety andanticipation as she fumbled at the fastenings of the door and swung itopen.
It was not Bob, but Calumet, who stepped in. One of his heavy pistolswas in his right hand; with the left he had helped her to swing thedoor open, and he stood, for the first brief instant following hisentrance, his arms extended, gazing sharply at Taggart. Then, quickly,apparently satisfied that he need have no concern for his enemy, heturned to Betty, placed both hands on her shoulders--the heavy pistolin his right resting on her--she felt the warmth of the barrel as ittouched the thin material of her dress and knew then that it had beenhe who had fired the shot that had been the undoing of herassailant--and holding her away from him a little peered searchingly ather.
Calumet stepped in.]
His face was pale, his lips stiff and white, and his eyes were alightwith the wanton fire that she had seen in them many times, though nowthere was something added to their expression--concern and thankfulness.
"God!" he said, after a little space, during which she looked at himwith shining eyes. She no longer gave any thought to Taggart; thestruggle with him was an already fading nightmare in her recollection;he had been eliminated, destroyed, by the man who stood before her--bythe man whose presence in the kitchen now stirred her to an emotionthat she had never before experienced--by the man who had come back toher. And that was all that she had cared for--that he would come back.
With a short laugh he released her and stepped over to where Taggartlay, looking down at him with a cold, satisfied smile.
"I reckon you won't bother nobody any more," he said.
He turned to Betty, the pale stiffness of his lips softening a littleas she smiled at him.
"I want to thank you," he said, "for sendin' Toban after me. He caughtme. I wasn't ridin' so fast an' I heard him comin'. I knowed who itwas, an' stopped to have it out with him. He yelled that he didn'twant me; that you'd sent him after me. We met Dade an' Malcolm--we'dpassed Double Fork an' nothin' was bogged down. So we knowedsomebody'd framed somethin' up. I come on ahead." He grinned."Toban's been braggin' some about his horse, but I reckon that don't goany more. That black horse can run." He indicated Taggart. "I reckonhe come here just to bother you," he said.
She told him about the diagram and he started, stepping quickly towhere Taggart lay, searching in his pockets until he found the paper.
Then he went to the door. Standing in it, he looked as he had lookedthat day when he had humiliated Neal Taggart in her presence. Thegentleness which she had seen in him some hours before--and which shehad welcomed--had disappeared; his lips had become stiff and paleagain, his eyes were narrowed and brilliant with the old destroyingfire. She grew rigid and drew a deep, quivering breath, for she sawthat the pistol was still in his hand.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I reckon old Taggart will still be waitin' in the timber grove," hesaid with a short, grim laugh. "They've bothered me enough. I'm goin'to send him where I sent his coyote son."
At that word she was close to him, her hands on his shoulders.
"Don't!" she pleaded; "please don't!" She shuddered and cast a quick,shrinking glance at the man on the floor. "There has been enoughtrouble tonight," she said. "You stay here!" she commanded, trying topull him away from the door, but not succeeding.
He seized her face with his hands in much the same manner in which hehad seized it in his father's office on the night of his return to theLazy Y--she felt the cold stock of the pistol against her cheek andshuddered again. A new light had leaped into his eyes--the suspicionthat she had seen there many times before.
"Are you wantin' old Taggart to get away with the idol?" he demanded.
"He can't!" she denied. "He hasn't the diagram, has he? You have justput it in your pocket!"
A quick embarrassment swept over him; he dropped his hands from herface. "I reckon that's right," he admitted. "But I'm goin' to' sendhim over the divide, idol or no idol."
"He won't be in the timber grove," she persisted; "he must have heardthe shooting and he wouldn't stay."
"I reckon he won't be able to run away from that black horse," helaughed. "I'll ketch him before he gets very far."
"You shan't go!" she declared, making a gesture of impotence. "Don'tyou see?" she added. "It isn't Taggart that I care about--it's you. Idon't want you to be shot--killed. I won't have it! If Taggart hasn'tgone by this time he will be hidden somewhere over there and when hesees you he will shoot you!"
"Well," he said, watching her face with a curious smile; "I'm takin' alook, anyway." In spite of her efforts to prevent him he stepped overthe threshold. She was about to follow him when she saw him wheelswiftly, his pistol at a poise as his gaze fell upon something outsidethe ranchhouse. And then she saw him smile.
"It's Bob," he said; "with a rifle." And he helped the boy, white offace and trembling, though with the light of stern resolution in hiseyes, into the kitchen.
"Bob'll watch you," he said; "so's nothin' will happen to you.Besides--" he leaned forward in a listening attitude; "Toban an' theboys are comin'. I reckon what I'm goin' to do won't take me long--ifTaggart's in the timber."
He stepped down and vanished around the corner of the ranchhouse.
He had scarcely gone before there was a clatter of hoofs in theranchhouse yard, a horse dashed up to the edge of the porch, came to asliding halt and the lank figure of Toban appeared before the door inwhich Betty was standing.
He looked at her, noted her white face, and peered over her shoulder atBob, with the rifle, at Taggart on the floor.
"Holy smoke!" he said; "what's happened?"
She told him quickly, in short, brief sentences; her eyes glowing withfear. He tried to squeeze past her to get into the kitchen, but sheprevented him, blocking the doorway, pushing hysterically against himwith her hands.
"Calumet has gone to the timber grove--to the clearing--to look for TomTaggart. Taggart will ambush him, will kill him! I don't want himkilled! Go to him, Toban--get him to come back!"
"Shucks," said Toban, grinning; "I reckon you don't need to worry none.If Taggart's over in the timber an' he sees Calumet he'll justnaturally forget he's got a gun. But if it'll ease your mind any, I'llgo after him. Damn his hide, anyway!" he chuckled. "I was braggin' upmy cayuse to him, an' after we met Dade an' Malcolm he run plumb awayfrom me. Ride! Holy smoke!"
He crossed the porch, leaped into the saddle and disappeared amid aclatter of hoofs.
Betty stood rigid in the doorway, listening--dreading to hear thatwhich she expected to hear--the sound of a pistol shot which would tellher that Calumet and Taggart had met.
But no sound reached her ears from the direction of the timber grove.She heard another sound presently--the faint beat of hoofs that grewmore distinct each second. It was Dade and Malcolm coming, she knew,and when they finally rode up and Dade flung himself from the saddleand darted to her side she was paler than at any time si
nce her firstsurprise of the night.
Again she was forced to tell her story. And after it was finished, andshe had watched Dade and Malcolm carry Neal Taggart from the room, shewent over to where Bob sat, took him by the shoulder and led him to oneof the kitchen windows, and there, holding him close to her, her facewhite, she stared with dreading, anxious eyes through the glass towardthe timber clump. She would have gone out to see for herself, but sheknew that she could do nothing. If he did not come back she knew thatshe would not want to stay at the Lazy Y any longer; she knew thatwithout him--
She no longer weighed him in the balances of her affection as she stoodthere by the window, she did not critically array his good qualitiesagainst the bad. She had passed that point now. She merely wantedhim. That was all--she just wanted him. And when at last she saw himcoming; heard his voice, she hugged Bob closer to her, and with herface against his sobbed silently.
A few minutes after he left the ranchhouse Calumet was in the clearingin the timber grove, standing over the body of a man who lay faceupward beside a freshly-dug hole at the edge of a mesquite clump. Hewas still standing there when a few minutes later Toban came clatteringup on his horse. The sheriff dismounted and stood beside him.
Calumet gave Toban one look and then spoke shortly:
"Taggart," he said.
"Lord!" said Toban, in an awed voice; "what in blazes did you do tohim? I didn't hear no shootin'! Is he dead?"
Both kneeled over the prone figure and Calumet pointed to the haft of aknife that was buried deep in the body near the heart.
"Telza's," said Calumet, as he examined the handle. "I dropped it herethe other night; the night Sharp was killed."
"Correct," said Toban; "I saw you drop it." He smiled at the quick,inquiring glance Calumet gave him.
"I was comin' through here after tendin' to some business an' I sawTelza knife Sharp. I piled onto Telza an' beat him up a little.Lordy, how that little copper-skinned devil did fight! But I squelchedhim. I heard some one comin', thought it was one of Taggarts, an'dragged Telza behind that scrub brush over there. I saw you come, butI wasn't figgerin' on makin' any explanations for my bein' around theLazy Y at that time of the night, an' besides I saw the Taggartssneakin' up on you. While they was gassin' to you I had one knee onTelza's windpipe an' my rifle pointin' in the general direction of theTaggarts, figgerin' that if they tried to start anything I'd beat themto it. But as it turned out it wasn't necessary. I sure appreciatedyour tender-heartedness toward them poor dumb brutes of the Taggarts.
"After you set the Taggarts to walkin' home, I took Telza to Lazettean' locked him up for murderin' Sharp."
"I reckon, then," said Calumet, a puzzled frown wrinkling his foreheadas he looked from Taggart to the freshly dug hole; "that somebody elsekilled Taggart. It was someone who knew where the idol was, too--he'dbeen diggin' for it."
"I reckon you've got me," said Toban. "Sharp an' Telza an' you an'Betty is the only one's that ever saw the diagram. I saw you pick itup from where Telza dropped it when I was maulin' him. I know youdidn't do any diggin' for the idol; I know Betty wouldn't; an' Sharp'sdead, an' Telza's in jail--"
There was a clatter of hoofs from the direction of the ranchhouse.Both men turned to confront a horseman who was coming rapidly towardthem, and as he came closer Toban cried out in surprise:
"Ed Bernse!" he said; "what in thunder are you doin' here?"
"Trailin' a jail breaker!" said the latter. "That copper-skinnedweazel we had in there slipped out some way. He stole a horse an' comein this direction. Got an hour's start of me!"
Calumet laughed shortly and turned to the new-made excavation, making athorough examination of it.
At its bottom was a square impression, a mold such as would be left bythe removal of a box. Calumet stood up and grinned at Toban.
"The idol's gone," he said. "Telza's got it. You go back to Lazette,"he said to Bernse, "an' tell the man who owns the horse that CalumetMarston will be glad to pay for it--he's that damned glad he's got ridof the idol."
Followed by Bernse, Calumet and Toban returned to the ranchhouse. Whenthey neared it they were met by Dade and Malcolm, bearing between themthe body of Neal Taggart. Calumet directed them to the clearing,telling them briefly what they would find there, and then, with Tobanand Bernse, continued on to the ranchhouse.
Bernse hesitated at the door. "I reckon I'll be lightin' out fortown," he said to the sheriff.
"Wait," said the sheriff; "I'll be goin' that way myself, directly."
Calumet had preceded Toban. As the latter was speaking to Bernse,Calumet stood before Betty, who, with Bob, had moved to thesitting-room door and was standing, pale, her eyes moist and brilliantwith the depth of her emotions.
Briefly, he told her what he had found in the clearing.
"And the idol's gone," he concluded. "Telza's got it."
"Thank God!" she exclaimed, devoutly.
"I reckon," came Toban's voice, as he stepped across the kitchen floortoward them, "that we'd better bring this here idol business to an end.Mebbe it's bothered you folks a heap, but it's had me sorta uneasy,too." He grinned at Betty. "Mebbe you'd better show him his dad'slast letter," he suggested. "I reckon it'll let me out of this deal.An' I'm sure wantin' to go back home."
Betty vanished into the sitting-room in an instant, and presentlyreturned bearing an envelope of the shape and size which had containedall of the elder Marston's previous communications to Calumet. Shepassed it over to the latter and she and the sheriff watched him whilehe read.
"MY DEAR SON: If you receive this you will understand that by this timeBetty is satisfied that you have qualified for your heritage. I thankyou and wish I were there to shake your hand, to look into your eyesand tell you how glad I am for your sake.
"As soon as you have your affairs in shape I want you to marryBetty--if she will have you. I think she will, for she is in love withyour picture.
"By this time you will know that I didn't leave Betty alone to copewith the Taggarts. If Dave Toban has kept his word--and I know hehas--he has visited the Lazy Y pretty often. I didn't want you to knowthat he was back of Betty, and so I have told him to visit hersecretly. He will give you what money is left in the bank at LasVegas--we thought it would be safer over there.
"I want to thank you again. God bless you.
"Your father,
"JAMES MARSTON."
Calumet slowly folded the letter and placed it into a pocket. Helooked at Toban, a glint of reproach in his eyes.
"So, it was you that I kept hearin' in the office--nights," he said.
"I reckon," said Toban. He looked at Betty and grinned.
Calumet also looked at her. His face was sober.
"I reckon I've been some fool," he said. "But I was more than a foolwhen I thought--"
"I didn't blame you much for that," smiled Betty. "You see, both timesyou heard us talking it happened that Taggart was somewhere in thevicinity, and--"
"Well," interrupted Toban with a grin; "I reckon you two will be ableto get along without any outside interference, now."
They both watched in silence as he went to the door and steppedoutside. He halted and looked at them, whereat they both reddened.Then he grinned widely and was gone.
Betty stood at one side of the sitting-room door, Calumet at the other.Both were in the kitchen. Bob, also, was in the kitchen, thoughCalumet and Betty did not see him; so it appeared to Bob. Having somerecollection of a certain light in Betty's eyes on the night thatCalumet had brought home the puppy, Bob's wisdom impelled him tocompare it with the light that was in them now, and he suspected--heknew--
And so, very gently, very quietly, with infinite care and patience,lest they become aware of his presence, he edged toward the kitchendoor, his rifle in hand. Still they did not seem to notice him, and sohe passed through the door, into the dining-room, backed to the stairs,and so left them.
The silence between Betty and Calumet conti
nued, and they still stoodwhere they had stood when Bob had stolen away, for they heard soundsoutside that warned them of the approach of Dade and Malcolm.
But it seemed they did not see Dade and Malcolm stop at one of thekitchen windows, and certainly they did not hear the whisperedconversation that was carried on between the two.
"Shucks," said Dade; "it begins to look like Cal an' Betty's quarrelis--"
"I reckon we won't go in," decided Malcolm; "not right now. Mebbe inan hour, or so. Let's go down to the bunkhouse and play a littlepitch."
They were all alone now. And Love had not been blind to the stealthyactivities that had been carried on around it.
Betty turned her head and looked at Calumet. He smiled at her--it wasthe smile of a man who has won a battle with something more than thematerial things; it was the smile of a man who has conquered self--thesmile of the ruler who knows the weakness of the citadel he has takenand plans its strengthening. It was the smile of the master whorealizes the potent influence of the ally who has aided in hisexaltation and who meditates reward through the simple method ofbestowing upon the ally without reservation that citadel which she hashelped to take and which, needless to say, she prizes. But it wassomething more, too, that smile. It was the smile of the mere Man--theman, repentant, humble, petitioning to the woman he has selected as hismate.
"I reckon," he said; "that they all thought we wanted to be alone."
But the ally was not prepared for this precipitate bestowal of reward,and as she blushed and looked down at the toe of her shoe, sticking outfrom beneath the hem of her skirt, she looked little like a person whohad conducted a bitter war for the master who stood near her.
"Oh," she said; "did you hear them?"
"I reckon I heard them," he said. He went closer to her. "They'rewise--Dade an' Malcolm. Bob, too. Wiser than me. But I'm gettin'sense, an' I'll come pretty close to bein' a man--give me time. All Ineed is a boss. An' if you--"
"I reckon," said Dade, stretching himself an hour later, "that we'llturn in. That brandin' today, an' that ridin' tonight has bushedme--kinda."
Malcolm agreed and they stepped to the bunkhouse door.
The moonlight threw a mellow glare upon the porch of the ranchhousenear the kitchen door. It bathed in its effulgent flood two figures,the boss and the master, who were sitting close together--very closetogether--on the porch.
The two figures came into instant focus in Dade's vision. He steppedback with a amused growl and gave place to Malcolm, who also looked.
Silently they went back into the bunkhouse.
"I reckon," suggested Dade, from the darkness, "that if we're figgerin'to go to bed we'll have to bunk right here. There's no tellin' whenthem two will get through mushin'. An' it's been too hard a tussle forthem to have us disturbin' them now."
From the porch there came a low protest from the ally.
"Don't, Cal," she said; "don't you see that Dade and Malcolm arewatching us?"
"Jealous, I guess," he laughed. "Well, let them watch. I reckon, ifthey're around here for any time, after this, they'll see me kissin'you plenty more."
THE END
The Boss of the Lazy Y Page 23
