For nearly two months the huge building—representing the seat of government of a mighty state—had been Lawler’s throne. And he had ruled with a democratic spirit and with a simple directness, that had indicated earnestness and strength. There had been a mass of detail which had required close attention; many conferences with the prominent men of his party—in which the prominent men had been made to understand that Lawler intended to be governor in fact as well as in name; and a gradual gathering up of all the loose ends of administration which had become badly tangled through the inefficiency of the former incumbent. And now the legislature was in session.
Lawler had not been able to seize time to visit the Wolf River section. Work, work—and more work had confronted him from the moment he had taken the oath of office on the capitol steps until this minute, when he sat at his desk looking out of a window at the bleak, artificial landscape.
There had been times when he had longed for a glance at the Wolf River section; and there had been many more times when he had sat where he was sitting now, thinking of Ruth Hamlin.
Something lacked—he was not satisfied. In the old days—when he had visited the capital and had entered the state building to sense immediately the majesty of it and to feel the atmosphere of solemn dignity that reigned within—he had felt that any man must experience the ultimate thrill—the tingling realization that he stood in a spot hallowed by the traditions of the republic.
The thought of serving the people of a great state had thrilled him mightily in the old days. It still thrilled him, but it brought with it a longing for Ruth to share it with him.
Thoughts of Ruth this morning brought Gary Warden into his mind. And he frowned as a man frowns who watches a pleasant scene turn into tragedy.
Only his collapse as he faced Warden that day in the latter’s office had prevented him killing the man. He had left the Dickman cabin lusting for Warden’s life. The passion that had surged through his veins during the long ride to Warden’s office had been the only force that could have kept him going. It had burned within him like a raging fire, and it had upheld his failing strength until he had sunk beside the desk with his passion unsatisfied.
He had thought much of the incident during the days he had lain in the room at the Willets Hotel, and later, while convalescing at the Circle L. And he had been glad his strength had failed him before he did what he had set out to do. For while there was no doubt in his mind that Warden had been implicated in all the attacks that had been made upon him, he had no legal proof—except the confession, signed by Link and Givens—that Warden was guilty.
And, now that he had been elected, he intended to keep silent regarding the confession. He hated Warden, but it was with something of the passion a man feels who treads upon a poisonous reptile that attacks him.
He meant to be generous in the moment of victory. Those men—Warden, Perry Haughton, Hatfield, and the officials of the railroad company—had performed according to their lights, using whatever power and influence was at hand to gain their ends. But they had failed. Several bills now pending in the legislature would effectually curb the powers of those men and others of their kind; and he would see to it that there never would be another opportunity for that sort of practice.
Lawler got up after a time, and walked to one of the big windows, where he stood for some minutes looking out. Then he returned to his desk, dropped into the chair, pulled open a deep drawer and took therefrom a cartridge belt, completely studded with cartridges. Suspended from the belt were two ivory-handled pistols that had seen much service.
They had belonged to his father. Later, he had worn them himself—in the days when his character had been in process of developing, when he had earned, with them, a reputation which had made him respected throughout the state.
They were, he felt, symbols of an ancient time. The day was coming when men would ride the open range without guns, when the wearing of guns would bring upon a man the distrust and the condemnation of his kind. Law and order would supersede the rule of the gun, and the passions of men would have to be regulated by the statute books.
He had brought the two guns with him upon the impulse of a moment. He would be away from the Circle L for at least two years, and he wanted the guns where he could look at them occasionally. For they brought into his mind a picture of his father as he had seen him, many times, wearing them; and they reminded him of days when he, too, had worn them—days that had a romantic charm all their own.
CHAPTER XXXIX
SLADE’S PRISONER
When Ruth regained the use of her senses she was lying on a bed in a small, evil-smelling room. An oil-lamp burned upon a little stand in one corner. A door—the only one—was closed—locked. She saw the stout wooden bar in its sturdy side slots.
At first she thought she was alone; and with a hope that made her breathless she lifted herself, swinging around until her feet were on the floor, intending to leap to the door, open it, and escape. A sound arrested her, a chuckle, grim and sinister, in a man’s voice. She flashed swiftly around, to see Slade sitting in a chair near the foot of the bed. He was bending forward, his elbows on his knees, his knuckles supporting his chin, watching her with a wide, amused grin.
For a long, breathless space she looked at him; noting the evil light in his eyes and the cruel, bestial curve of his lips. She saw how his gaze quickened as he watched her; how he had drawn one foot under him—obviously to be used as leverage for a rapid leap should she try to reach the door.
“It ain’t no use, ma’am,” he said; “you’re here, an’ you’re goin’ to stay for a while.” He got up and walked to the door, placing his back against it and grinning widely as he looked down at her, as she yielded to a long shudder of dread.
During the silence that followed Slade’s words Ruth could hear faint sounds from below—the clinking of glasses, the scuffling of feet, a low murmur of voices. She knew, then, that they had brought her to a room above a saloon—the Wolf, she supposed, for that was where Warden said he intended to bring her.
She watched Slade fearfully, divining that he meant to attack her. She could see that determination in his eyes and in his manner. He was still grinning, but now the grin had become set, satyric, hideous. It was a mere smirk. No mirth was behind it—nothing but passion, intense, frightful.
She glanced swiftly around, saw a window beyond the foot of the bed with a ragged shade hanging over it. She knew the Wolf was only two stories in height, and she felt that if she threw herself out of the window she would suffer injury. But she meant to do it. She got her feet set firmly on the floor, and was about to run toward the window, when Slade leaped at her, seeing the reckless design in her eyes.
She had been moving when Slade leaped, and she evaded the arm he extended and slipped away from him. She heard Slade curse. She was almost at the window when he rushed at her again; and to keep him from grasping her she dodged, bringing up against the farther wall, while Slade, losing his balance, plunged against the window, crashing against the glass and sending a thousand broken fragments tinkling on the floor of the room and into the darkness outside.
She was alert to the advantage that had suddenly come to her, and she ran lightly to the door and tried to lift the bar. She got one end of it from a socket, but the other stuck. She pulled frantically at it. It finally came loose, with a suddenness that threw her off balance, and she reeled against the bed, almost falling.
She saw Slade coming toward her, a bestial rage in his eyes, and she threw herself again at the door, grasping it and throwing it wide open. She tried to throw herself out of the opening, to the stairs that led straight downward into the barroom. But the movement was halted at its inception by Slade’s arms, which went around her with the rigidity of iron hoops, quickly constricting. She got a glimpse of the room below—saw the bar and the men near it—all facing her way, watching her. Then Slade drew her back and closed the door.
He did not bar the door, for she was fighting him, now—
fighting him with a strength and fury that bothered him for an instant. His strength, however, was greater than hers, and at last her arms were crushed against her sides with a pressure that almost shut off her breath. Slade’s face was close to hers, his lips loose; and his eyes were looking into hers with an expression that terrified her.
She screamed—once—twice—with the full power of her lungs. And then Slade savagely brought a big hand over her mouth and held it there. She fought to escape the clutch, kicking, squirming—trying to bite the hand. But to no avail. The terrible pressure on her mouth was suffocating her, and the room went dark as she continued to fight. She thought Slade had extinguished the light, and she was conscious of a dull curiosity over how he had done it. And then sound seem to cease. She felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. She was conscious only of that terrible pressure over her mouth and nose. And finally she ceased to feel even that.
CHAPTER XL
PRIMITIVE INSTINCTS
Shorty and a dozen Circle L men—among them Blackburn and the three others who had been wounded in the fight with the rustlers on the plains the previous spring—had been waiting long in a gully at a distance of a mile or more from the Hamlin cabin. Shortly after dark they had filed into the gully, having come directly from the Circle L.
Hours before, they had got off their horses to stretch their legs, and to wait. And now they had grown impatient. It was cold—even in the gulley where the low moaning, biting wind did not reach them—and they knew they could have no fire.
“Hell!” exclaimed one man, intolerantly; “I reckon she’s a whizzer!”
“Looks a heap like it,” agreed Shorty. “Seems, if Hamlin couldn’t get him headed this way—like he said he would—he ought to let us know.”
“You reckon Hamlin’s runnin’ straight, now?” inquired Blackburn.
“Straight as a die!” declared Shorty. “If you’d been trailin’ him like me an’ the boys has, you’d know it. Trouble is, that Singleton is holdin’ off. A dozen times we’ve been close enough to ketch Singleton with the goods—if he’d do the brandin’. But he don’t, an’ Hamlin has to do it—with Singleton watchin’. We’ve framed up on him a dozen times. But he lets Hamlin run the iron on ’em. Hamlin eased that bunch into the gully just ahead, especial for tonight. I helped him drive ’em. An’ Hamlin said that tonight he’d refuse to run the iron on ’em—makin’ Singleton do it. An’ then we’d ketch him doin’ it. But I reckon Hamlin’s slipped up somewheres.”
“It ain’t none comfortable here, with that wind whinin’ that vicious,” complained a cowboy. “An’ no fire. Hamlin said ten o’clock, didn’t he? It’s past eleven.”
“It’s off, I reckon,” said Shorty. “Let’s fan it to Hamlin’s shack an’ say somethin’ to him.”
Instantly the outfit was on the move. With Shorty leading they swept out of the gully to the level and rode northward rapidly.
When they came in sight of the Hamlin cabin there was no light within, and the men sat for a time on their horses, waiting and listening. Then, when it seemed certain there was no one stirring, Shorty glanced at the horse corral.
Instantly he whispered to the other men:
“Somethin’s wrong, boys. Hamlin’s horse is gone, an’ Ruth’s pony!”
He dismounted and burst into the cabin, looking into the two bedrooms. He came out again, scratching his head in puzzlement.
“I don’t seem to sabe this here thing, boys. I know Ruth Hamlin ain’t in the habit of wanderin’ off alone at this time of the night. An’ Hamlin was tellin’ me that he sure was goin’ with Singleton. It’s a heap mysterious, an’ I’ve got a hunch things ain’t just what they ought to be!”
He turned toward the plain that stretched toward Willets. Far out—a mere dot in his vision—he detected movement. He straightened, his face paled.
“Somebody’s out there, headin’ for town. I’m takin’ a look—the boss would want me to, an’ I ain’t overlookin’ anything that’ll do him any good!”
He leaped upon his horse, and the entire company plunged into the soft moonlight that flooded the plains between the cabin and Willets.
* * * *
The ivory-handled pistols were still on Lawler’s desk when his secretary softly opened a door and entered. The secretary smiled slightly at sight of the weapons, but he said no word as he advanced to the desk and placed a telegram before Lawler.
He stood, waiting respectfully, as Lawler read the telegram. It was from Moreton:
“Governor Lawler: There’s something mighty wrong going on in Willets. Slade and his gang struck town this morning. He was with Warden all day in the Wolf. Don’t depend on the new sheriff.”
Lawler got up, his face paling. He dismissed the secretary and then stood for several minutes looking down at the pistols on the desk. They offered a quick solution of the problem that confronted him.
At this minute he was conscious of one thing only—that Slade was in Willets. Slade, who had led the gang that had killed his men—Slade, whose face haunted Blackburn’s dreams—the man the Circle L outfit held responsible for the massacre that day on the plains above the big valley.
Lurking in the metal cylinders of the two weapons on the desk was that death which Warden, Singleton, Slade, and the others deserved at his hands. He took up the pistols, nestling their sinister shapes in his palms, while his blood rioted with the terrible lust that now seized him—the old urge to do violence, the primal instinct to slay, to which he had yielded when Shorty told him of the things Blondy Antrim had done.
Another minute passed while he fondled the weapons. Twice he moved as though to buckle the cartridge belt around his waist—shoving aside the black coat he wore, which would have hidden them. But each time he changed his mind.
He knew that if he wore them he would use them. The driving intensity of his desire to kill Warden, Singleton, and Slade would overwhelm him if he should find they had harmed Ruth. The deadly passion that held him in a mighty clutch would take no account of his position, of his duty to the state, or of the oath he had taken to obey and administer the laws.
While he silently fought the lust that filled his heart the secretary came in. He started and then stood rigid, watching Lawler, seeming to divine something of the struggle that was going on before his eyes. He saw how Lawler’s muscles had tensed, how his chin had gone forward with a vicious thrust—noted the awful indecision that had seized the man. As the secretary watched, he realized that Lawler was on the verge of surrendering to the passions he was fighting—for Lawler had again taken up the cartridge belt and was opening his coat to buckle the belt around him.
“Governor.”
It was the secretary’s voice. It was low, conveying the respect that the man always used in addressing Lawler. But the sound startled Lawler like the explosion of a bomb in the room. He flashed around, saw the secretary—looked steadily at him for one instant, and then dropped the belt to the desk, tossed the pistols into the drawer and smiled mirthlessly.
“Governor,” said the secretary; “your train is ready.”
The secretary stood within three yards of Lawler, and before he could turn to go out, Lawler had reached him. He seized both the man’s hands, gripped them tightly, and said, hoarsely:
“Thank you, Williams.”
Then he released the secretary’s hands and plunged out through the door, while the secretary, smiling wisely, walked to the desk and picking up the cartridge belt, dropped it into the drawer with the pistols.
CHAPTER XLI
THE CLEAN-UP
The Wolf Saloon was in a big frame building that stood at a little distance from the back of the street, with a wide, open space on each side of it. Lights were flickering from some of the upstairs windows of the building when Shorty and the other Circle L men reached town. Shorty and his men had ridden hard, and they had seen a horse and rider halt in front of the building while they were yet a mile or so out on the plains. And when Shorty’s horse struck the edge of t
own Shorty headed him straight for the Wolf, veering when he reached it and passing to the open space from which ran an outside stairway. The other men followed Shorty’s example, and they were close at his heels when he slipped off his horse and ran around to the front of the Wolf.
Warden had come out shortly before; he was now in his office farther down the street, congratulating himself upon the outcome of the incident in the saloon. He had struck a damaging blow at Lawler. At a stroke he was evening his score with the latter.
Several other men had emerged from the saloon. When Shorty reached the front door four men were just emerging, carrying another. Suspicious, alert, Shorty halted the men and peered closely at the face of the man they were carrying.
“It’s Joe Hamlin!” he said as he recognized the other’s face.
Shorty’s eyes were glowing with rage and suspicion.
“What’s happened?” he demanded of one of the men.
“Rukus,” shortly replied one. “Hamlin, here, tried to draw on Slade, an’ Slade—”
“Slade!”
Shorty almost screamed the words. He straightened, his face grew convulsed. Pausing on the verge of violent action, he heard Hamlin’s voice:
“Shorty!”
Shorty leaned over. Straining, his muscles working, his eyes blazing, Shorty heard low words issuing from Hamlin’s lips:
“Slade done it, Shorty. An’ he’s got Ruth—took her upstairs. Shorty—save her—for God’s sake!”
Shorty straightened. “Take this man to the doctor—he’s hit bad!” The words were flung at the four men; and Shorty was on the move before he finished.
Blackburn and the others were close behind him when he burst into the front door of the saloon.
The saloon occupied the entire lower floor. A bar ran the length of the room from front to rear. In the center of the room was a roulette wheel; near it was a faro table; and scattered in various places were other tables. Some oil-lamps in clusters provided light for the card and gambling tables; and behind the bar were several bracket lamps.
The Charles Alden Seltzer Megapack Page 111
