The Collected Westerns of William MacLeod Raine: 21 Novels in One Volume

by Unknown

  But her breaking heart could not stand that. There must somehow be a way to save him. She cast about desperately for one, and had not found it when she begged the outlaw chief to see her alone.

  "No use." He shook his head.

  "But just for five minutes! That can't do any harm, can it?"

  "And no good, either."

  "Yet I ask it. You might do that much for me," she pleaded.

  Her despair had moved him; for he was human, after all. That he was troubled about it annoyed him a good deal. Her arrival on the scene had made things unpleasant for everybody. Ungraciously he assented, as the easiest way out of the difficulty.

  The two moved off to the corral. It was perhaps thirty yards distant, and they reached it before either of them spoke. She was the first to break the silence.

  [Illustration: "OH, NO--NO! I CAN'T LET YOU GO, JACK. I CAN'T. I CAN'T." Page 294.]

  "You won't do this dreadful thing--surely, you won't do it."

  "No use saying another word about it. I told you that," he answered doggedly.

  "But---- Oh, don't you see? It's one of those things no white man can do. Once it's done, you have put the bars up against decency for the rest of your life."

  "I reckon I'll have to risk that--and down in your heart you don't believe it, because you think I've had the bars up for years."

  She had come to an impasse already. She tried another turn. "And you said you cared for me! Yet you are willing to make me unhappy for the rest of my life."

  "Why, no! I'm willing to make you happy. There's fish in the sea just as good as any that ever were caught," he smirked.

  "But it would help you to free him. Don't you see? It's your chance. You can begin again, now. You can make him your friend."

  His eyes were hard and grim. "I don't want him for a friend, and you're dead wrong if you think I could make this a lever to square myself with the law. I couldn't. He wouldn't let me, for one thing--he isn't that kind."

  "And you said you cared for me!" she repeated helplessly, wringing her hands in her despair. "But at the first chance you fail me."

  "Can't you see it isn't a personal matter? I've got nothing against him--nothing to speak of. I'd give him to you, if I could. But it's not my say-so. The thing is out of my hands."

  "You could save him, if you set yourself to."

  "Sure, I could--if I would pay the price. But I won't pay."

  "That's it. You would have to give Rosario something--make some concession," she said eagerly.

  "And I'm not willing to pay the price," he told her. "His life's forfeit. Hasn't he been hunting us for a week?"

  "Let me pay it," she cried. "I have money in my own right--seven thousand dollars. I'll give it all to save him."

  He shook his head. "No use. We've turned down a big offer from West. Your seven thousand isn't a drop in the bucket."

  She beat her hands together wildly. "There must be some way to save him."

  The outlaw was looking at her with narrowed eyes. He saw a way, and was working it out in his mind. "You're willing to pay, are you?" he asked.

  "Yes--yes! All I have."

  He put his arms akimbo on the corral fence, and looked long at her. "Suppose the price can't be paid in money, Miss Lee."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Money isn't the only thing in this world. There are lots of things it won't buy that other things will," he said slowly.

  She groped for his meaning, her wide eyes fixed on his, and still did not find it. "Be plainer, please. What can I do to save him?"

  "You might marry me."

  "Never!"

  "Just as you say. You were looking for a way, and I suggested one. Anyhow, you're mine."

  "I won't do it!"

  "You wanted me to pay the price; but you don't want to pay yourself."

  "I couldn't do it. It would be horrible!" But she knew she could and must.

  "Why couldn't you? I'm ready to cut loose from this way of living. When I pull off this one big thing, I'll quit. We'll go somewhere and begin life again. You said I could. Well, I will. You'll help me to keep straight. It won't be only his life you are saving. It will be mine, too."

  "No--I don't love you! How could a girl marry a man she didn't care for and didn't respect?"

  "I'll make you do both before long. I'm the kind of man women love."

  "You're the kind I hate," she flashed bitterly.

  "I'll risk your hate, my dear," he laughed easily.

  She did not look at him. Her eyes were on the horizon line, where sky and pine tops met. He knew that she was fighting it out to a decision, and he did not speak again.

  After all, she was only a girl. Right and wrong were inextricably mixed in her mind. It was not right to marry this man. It was not right to let the sheriff die while she could save him. She was generous to the core. But there was something deeper than generosity. Her banked love for Flatray flooded her in a great cry of protest against his death. She loved him. She loved him. Much as she detested this man, revolting as she found the thought of being linked to him, the impulse to sacrifice herself was the stronger feeling of the two. Deep in her heart she knew that she could not let Jack go to his death so long as it was possible to prevent it.

  Her grave eyes came back to MacQueen. "I'll have to tell you one thing--I'll hate you worse than ever after this. Don't think I'll ever change my mind about that. I won't."

  He twirled his little mustache complacently.

  "I'll have to risk that, as I said."

  "You'll take me to Mesa to-day. As soon as we get there a justice of the peace will marry us. From his house we'll go directly to father's. You won't lie to me."

  "No. I'll play out the game square, if you do."

  "And after we're married, what then?"

  "You may stay at home until I get this ransom business settled. Then we'll go to Sonora."

  "How do you know I'll go?"

  "I'll trust you."

  "Then it's a bargain."

  Without another word, they turned back to rejoin the group by the cabin. Before they had gone a dozen steps she stopped.

  "What about Mr. Flatray? You will free him, of course."

  "Yes. I'll take him right out due north of here, about four miles. He'll be blindfolded. There we'll leave him, with instructions how to reach Mesa."

  "I'll go with you," she announced promptly.

  "What for?"

  "To make sure that you do let him go--alive."

  He shrugged his shoulders. "All right. I told you I was going to play fair. I haven't many good points, but that is one of them. I don't give my word and then break it."

  "Still, I'll go."

  He laughed angrily. "That's your privilege."

  She turned on him passionately. "You've got no right to resent it, though I don't care a jackstraw whether you do or not. I'm not going into this because I want to, but to save this man from the den of wolves into which he has fallen. If you knew how I despise and hate you, how my whole soul loathes you, maybe you wouldn't be so eager to go on with it! You'll get nothing out of this but the pleasure of torturing a girl who can't defend herself."

  "We'll see about that," he answered doggedly.

  CHAPTER X

  THE PRICE

  MacQueen lost no time in announcing his new program.

  "Boys, the hanging's off. I've decided to accept West's offer for Flatray's life. It's too good to turn down."

  "That's what I told you all the time," growled Buck.

  "Well, I'm telling you now. The money will be divided equally among you, except that Rosario will get my share as well as hers."

  Rosario Chaves broke into fierce protests. Finding these unheeded, she cursed the outlaws furiously and threatened vengeance upon them. She did not want money; she wanted this man's life. The men accepted this as a matter of course, and paid little attention to the ravings of the old woman.

  At the first news of his reprieve, Jack saw things through a haze for a moment
. But he neither broke down nor showed undue exultation.

  His first thought was of relief, of profound comfort; his next of wonder and suspicion. How under heaven had Melissy won his life for him? He looked quickly at her, but the eyes of the girl did not meet his.

  "Melissy." Flatray spoke very gently, but something in the way he spoke compelled the young woman to meet his eyes.

  Almost instantly the long lashes went down to her pale cheeks again.

  MacQueen cut in suavely: "I reckon this is the time for announcements. Boys, Miss Lee has promised to marry me."

  Before the stir which this produced had died away, Flatray flashed a question: "In exchange for my life?"

  The chief of the outlaws looked at him with insolence smoldering in his black eyes. "Now, I wonder when you ever will learn to mind your own business, sheriff! Nobody invited you to sit into this game."

  "This is my business. I make it mine. Give me a straight answer, Melissy. Am I right? Is it for my life?"

  "Yes." Her voice was so low he could hardly hear it.

  "Then I won't have it! The thing is infamous. I can't hide behind the skirts of a girl, least of all you. I can die, but, by God, I'll keep my self-respect."

  "It's all arranged," Melissy answered in a whisper.

  Flatray laughed harshly. "I guess not. You can't pay my debts by giving yourself to life-long misery."

  "You're right pessimistic, sheriff," sneered MacQueen.

  "What do you take me for? I won't have it. I won't have it." The sheriff's voice was rough and hoarse. "I'd rather die fifty times."

  "It's not up to you to choose, as it happens," the leader of the outlaws suggested suavely.

  "You villain! You damned white-livered coward!" The look of the young sheriff scorched.

  "Speaks right out in meeting, don't he?" grinned Lane.

  "I know what he is, Jack," Melissy cried. "And he knows I think he's the lowest thing that crawls. But I've got to save you. Don't you see, I've got to do it?"

  "No, I don't see it," Flatray answered hotly. "I can take what's coming to me, can't I? But if you save my life that way you make me as low a thing as he is. I say I'll not have it."

  Melissy could stand it no longer. She began to sob. "I--I--Oh, Jack, I've got to do it. Don't you see? Don't you see? It won't make any difference with me if I don't. No difference--except that you'll be--dead."

  She was in his embrace, her arms around his neck, whispering the horrible truth in his ear brokenly. And as he felt her dear young fragrance of hair in his nostrils, the warm, soft litheness of her body against his, the rage and terror in him flooded his veins. Could such things be? Was it possible a man like that could live? Not if he could help it.

  Gently he unfastened her arms from his neck. MacQueen was standing a dozen feet away, his hands behind his back and his legs wide apart. As Flatray swung around the outlaw read a warning in the blazing eyes. Just as Jack tore loose from his guards MacQueen reached for his revolver.

  The gun flashed. A red hot blaze scorched through Jack's arm. Next instant MacQueen lay flat on his back, the sheriff's fingers tight around his throat. If he could have had five seconds more the man's neck would have been broken. But they dragged him away, fighting like a wild cat. They flung him down and tied his hands behind him.

  Melissy caught a glimpse of his bleeding arm, his torn and dusty face, the appalling ferocity of the men who were hammering him into the ground. She took a step forward blindly. The mountains in front of her tilted into the sky. She moved forward another step, then stumbled and went down. She had fainted.

  "Just as well," MacQueen nodded. "Here, Rosario, look after the young lady. Lift Flatray to a horse, boys, after you've blindfolded him. Good enough. Oh, and one thing more, Flatray. You're covered by a rifle. If you lift a hand to slip that handkerchief from your eyes, you're giving the signal for Jeff to turn loose at you. We're going to take you away, but we don't aim to let you out of the Cache for a few days yet."

  "What do you mean?"

  MacQueen jeered at his prisoner openly. "I mean, Mr. Sheriff, that you'll stay with us till the girl does as she has promised. Understand?"

  "I think so, you hellhound. You're going to hold me against her so that she can't change her mind."

  "Exactly. So that she can't rue back. You've guessed it."

  They rode for hours, but in what direction it was impossible for Flatray to guess. He could tell when they were ascending, when dropping down hill, but in a country so rugged this meant nothing.

  When at last he dismounted and the kerchief was taken from his eyes he found himself in a little pocket of the hills in front of an old log cabin. Jeff stayed with him. The others rode away. But not till they had him safely tied to a heavy table leg within the hut.

  CHAPTER XI

  SQUIRE LATIMER TAKES A HAND

  "You're to make ready for a trip to town, señorita."

  "When?"

  "At once," Rosario answered. "By orders of Señor MacQueen."

  "Then he is back?" the girl flashed.

  "Just back."

  "Tell him I want to see him--immediately."

  "I am to take you to him as soon as you are ready to ride."

  "Oh, very well."

  In a very few minutes the young woman was ready. Rosario led her to the cabin in front of which she had seen the old Indian squaw. In it were seated Simon West and Black MacQueen. Both of them rose at her entrance.

  "Please take a chair, Miss Lee. We have some business to talk over," the outlaw suggested.

  Melissy looked straight at him, her lips shut tight. "What have you done with Jack Flatray?" she presently demanded.

  "Left him to find his way back to his friends."

  "You didn't hurt him ... any more?"

  "No."

  "And you left him alone, wounded as he was."

  "We fixed up his wound," lied MacQueen.

  "Was it very bad?"

  "A scratch. I had to do it."

  "You needn't apologize to me."

  "I'm not apologizing, you little wild-cat."

  "What do you want with me? Why did you send for me?"

  "We're going to Mesa to see a parson. But before we start there's some business to fix up. Mr. West and I will need your help to fix up the negotiations for his release."

  "My help!" She looked at him in surprise. "How can I help?"

  "I've laid my demands before his friends. They'll come through with the money, sure. But I want them to understand the conditions right plainly, so there won't be any mistake. What they have got to get soaked into their heads is that, if they do make any mistakes, they will not see Simon West again alive. You put that up to them strong."

  "I'm not going to be your agent in robbing people of their money!" she told him swiftly.

  "You don't understand. Mr. West wants you to do it. He wants you to explain the facts to his friends, so they won't act rash and get off wrong foot first."

  "Oh! If Mr. West wishes it," she conceded.

  "I do wish it," the great man added.

  Though his face and hands were still stained with the dye that had been used on them, the railroad builder was now dressed in his own clothes. The girl thought that he looked haggard and anxious, and she was sure that her presence brought him relief. In his own way he was an indomitable fighter, but his experience had not included anything of this nature.

  Jack Flatray could look at death level-eyed, and with an even pulse, because for him it was all in the day's work; but the prospect of it shook West's high-strung nerves. Nevertheless, he took command of the explanations, because it had been his custom for years to lead.

  MacQueen, his sardonic smile in play, sat back and let West do most of the talking. Both men were working for the same end--to get the ransom paid as soon as possible--and the multimillionaire released; and the outlaw realized that Melissy would coöperate the more heartily if she felt she were working for West and not for himself.

  "This is Tuesday
, Miss Lee. You will reach Mesa some time to-night. My friends ought to be on the ground already. I want you and your father to get in touch with them right away, and arrange the details along the line laid down by Mr. MacQueen. In case they agree to everything and understand fully, have the Stars and Stripes flying from your house all day to-morrow as a signal. Don't on any account omit this--because, if you do, my captors will have to hold me longer, pending further negotiations. I have written a letter to Mr. Lucas, exonerating you completely, Miss Lee; and I have ordered him to comply with all these demands without parley."