by Kirk Munroe
CHAPTER XV
PEVERIL IN THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMIES
Having been driven from Red Jacket by the Cornishmen under MarkTrefethen, the Bohemian, Rothsky, and his fellow car-pushers of theWhite Pine Mine who had assaulted Peveril on his first day of work,had taken to the woods like wild beasts. Although restrained of theirevil intentions for the time being, they were more bitter than everagainst the innocent cause of their trouble, and swore, with strange,foreign oaths, to kill him if the chance should ever offer.
In the meantime they must find some way of gaining a livelihood, andthis finally came to them at a queer, semi-abandoned mine across whichthey stumbled in the course of their wanderings. Its proprietor was anold man who seemed half crazed; and the mine that he was working in asmall way, with a pitifully inadequate force, was absolutely barren ofcopper; but, as he paid their wages promptly, the car-pushers werewilling to do his bidding without asking questions.
One of the scarcest things about this mine was timber with which tosupport the roof of the only drift that was being opened. Theproprietor tried to force his men to continue their work, and open thedrift far beyond a point of safety without the protection of this mostnecessary adjunct, and when they refused he became furiously angry.Their job seemed to have come to an end, and all hands were about toleave, when, by an opportune gale, a supply of the desired materialwas cast up on the adjacent coast.
Every able-bodied man was immediately set to work collecting this, andin towing raft after raft of the Heaven-sent logs to a land-lockedbasin that lay but a short distance from the mine. In this way, evenbefore the arrival of Peveril and his wreckers, a large amount of theneeded timber had been secured.
Although the miners were well aware that their employer carried onsome other business besides the development of his barren property,they neither knew nor cared to know what it was. They discovered thatit was in some way connected with the coming and going of certainvessels, but beyond this they were kept in ignorance.
When one of these vessels reported a party at Laughing Fish alsoengaged in a search for wrecked logs, the exertions of thewhite-haired mine-owner were so redoubled that before Peveril foundtime to work the coast to the northward of his camp, it had beenstripped of every log. Having obtained possession of his covetedtimber, the old man was now making every effort to have it transportedto the mouth of his shaft, believing that, if he could once get itunderground, his right to the logs would remain unquestioned. He had,however, only partially succeeded in effecting this removal, when, tohis chagrin, Peveril appeared on the scene of activity.
After the defeat of the young man's attempt to capture the raft, histwo Bohemians were easily induced to join the enemy by promises ofbetter pay than they were getting. As for Joe Pintaud, he was indeedtaken prisoner, but was purposely so loosely guarded that he found nodifficulty in escaping to the schooner of his friends, which came intoport that afternoon, and on which he was carried off to Canada.
Thus was the White Pine wrecking expedition completely broken up, andonly its leader was left to carry out, if he could, its objects. Evenhe had been set adrift in an oarless skiff, with the hope that hewould be so long delayed in reporting to his employers as to allowtime for the captured logs to be put underground before another demandfor them could be made.
This disposition of the captive was only known to the old man, whohad, unobserved, removed the oars from Peveril's skiff; and so it wasgenerally supposed that he would return directly to his camp atLaughing Fish.
Rothsky, the Bohemian, who was one of those working near the log raft,had instantly recognized Peveril, and at sight of him his hatredblazed up with redoubled fury. To be sure, his broken jaw had healed,but so awry as to disfigure his face and render it more hideous thanever. Now to find the man who had done him this injury againinterfering with his plans filled him with rage.
Although he had no opportunity for venting it at the moment, he easilylearned from Peveril's late followers the location of their camp, and,believing that the young man would be found there, he planned anattack upon it for that very night. He had no difficulty in inducingthe two other car-pushers who had been driven from the White Pine tojoin him, and as soon as they quit work that evening they set forth onfoot.
They had not settled on any plan of action, and, though Rothsky wasdetermined to kill the man he hated, his associates imagined that theyoung fellow was only to be punished in such a way as would cause hima considerable degree of suffering and at the same time afford themgreat amusement. They did not anticipate any interference with theirplans, even should they be discovered, for the fishermen of the covewere their fellow-countrymen, bound to them by the ties of a commonhatred against all native-born Americans.
Now it so happened that the only daughter of the erratic oldmine-owner had set forth that afternoon, accompanied only by herever-present body-guard, a great, lean stag-hound, on a long gallopover the wild uplands surrounding her home. For that desolate littlemining village was the only home Mary Darrell had known since thedeath of her mother, five years before, or when she was but twelveyears of age.
Until then she had lived in New England, and had only seen her fatherupon the rare occasions of his visits from the mysterious West inwhich his life was spent. To others he was a man of morose silence,suspicious of his fellows, secretive and unapproachable, but to hisonly child, the one light of his darkened life, and the sole hope ofhis old age, he was ever the loving father, tender and indulgent.
Bringing her to the only home he had to offer, he had made allpossible provision for her comfort and happiness. The most recentbooks were sent to her, and the latest music found its way into thewilderness for her amusement. Himself a well-educated man, RalphDarrell devoted his abundant leisure to her instruction, and to thestudy of her tastes. Only two of the girl's expressed wishes were leftungratified, and both of these he had promised to grant when sheshould be eighteen years of age.
One of them was that they might return to the home of her childhood.To this her father's unvarying answer was that business and a regardfor her future welfare compelled him to remain where they were untilthe expiration of a certain time. When it should be elapsed, hepromised that she should lead him to any part of the world she chose.Cheered by this promise, she planned many an imaginary journey toforeign lands, and many a long hour did Mary and her father beguile inarranging the details of these delightful wanderings.
Her other wish was for a companion of her own age; but this was sodecidedly denied that she knew it would be useless to express it againafter the first time.
"It would mean ruin, absolute ruin and beggary for us both," said Mr.Darrell, "if I were to allow a single stranger, young or old, of evenordinary intelligence, to visit this place. From the time you areeighteen years of age you shall have plenty of friends of your ownchoosing; but until that date, dear, you must be content with only thesociety of your old dad."
So Mary Darrell studied, sang, read, rode, and thought the fancifulthoughts of girlhood alone, but always with impatient longings for thecoming of the magic hour that should set her free. And yet she was notwholly alone, for her father would at any time neglect everything elseto give her pleasure, while she also had both "Sandy," her stag-hound,and "Fuzz," her pony, for devoted companions.
She was allowed to ride when and where she pleased, with only theseattendants, on two conditions. One was that she should never visit,nor even go near, a human residence; and the other that, when on suchexcursions, she should, for greater safety, dress as a boy. When shewas thus costumed her father was very apt to call her by her middlename, which was Heaton; and so it was generally supposed by the fewminers who caught glimpses of her that the old man had two children--agirl, and a boy who was not only younger than she, but devoted tohorseback riding.
Only one duty devolved upon the girl thus strangely reared, and thatwas the keeping watch for certain vessels that came in from the greatlake and sailed away again at regular intervals.
So Mary Darrel
l was out riding on the evening that witnessed thecapture of Richard Peveril by his bitterest enemies, and as twilightdeepened into dusk she was urging her way homeward with all speed.
In the meantime the three rascal car-pushers, who had come sounexpectedly upon him whom they sought, and had so easily effected hiscapture, led Peveril directly away from the trail he had beenfollowing to a place in the woods known only to Rothsky. Close towhere they finally halted and began preparations for the punishment ofthe prisoner, who was also expected to afford them infinite amusementby his sufferings, yawned a great black hole. It was of unknown depth,and was nearly concealed by a tangle of vines and bushes. Rothsky hadstumbled upon it by accident only a few days before, and now conceivedthat it would be a good place in which to dispose of a body, in casethey should happen to have one on their hands.
Trusting to the wildness of their surroundings and the absence ofhuman beings from that region to shield them from observation, theyventured to build a fire, by the light of which they proposed to carryout their devilish plans.
Besides binding Peveril's arms, they had, on reaching this place,taken the further precaution of tying his ankles, so that he now layon the ground utterly helpless, a prey to bitter thoughts, but nervinghimself to bear bravely whatever torture might await him.
All at once the deep baying of a hound and a crash of gallopinghoofs, coming directly towards the fire-light, sounded through thewood.
With a fierce imprecation Rothsky gave a hasty order, at which allthree men sprang to where Peveril was lying in deepest shadow.Hurriedly picking him up, they carried him a short distance, gave amighty swing, and flung him from them. There was a crash of partedbushes and rending vines, a stifled cry, and all was still.
A minute later, when a boyish figure on horseback swept past the fire,the three men seated by it only aroused a fleeting curiosity in MaryDarrell's mind as to what they could be doing in such a place at sucha time.
