The Free Range

by Francis William Sullivan

  CHAPTER XXI

  JULIE INVESTIGATES

  The occasion when nine men with their hands tied behind them arrived atthe Bar T ranch, accompanied by six others with Winchesters across theirsaddle bows, was an extremely happy one for Juliet Bissell. This happinesswas not associated, except superficially, with the capture of therustlers, but had to do especially with the receipt of a certain smearedand blackened journal from a certain tall and generously proportionedyoung man.

  The captives arrived at noon, but it was nearly supper-time before she hadfinished reading, around, amid, among and between the lines, despite thefact that the lines themselves left very little doubt as to the writer'smeaning.

  This was not the same beautiful girl Bud Larkin had left behind him thatearly morning of his escape. Since that time she had changed. The eyesthat had formerly been but the beautiful abode of allurement andhalf-spoken promises, had taken on a sweet and patient seriousness. Thecorners of her mouth still turned up as though she were about to smile,but there was a firmer set to them that spoke of suppressed impulses.

  She moved with a greater dignity, and for the first time became aware ofthe real worth of her mother, who until now she had somehow taken forgranted. Martha's consternation and grief at her husband's sudden andprolonged disappearance, only broken by the visit of Skidmore and hiscamera, had been really pitiful, and the girl's eyes were opened to thereal value and beauty of an undying love.

  Her own misery, after the receipt of the letter brought by Skidmore, shehad faced alone, and in her, as in all good and true natures, it hadworked a change. It had softened her to the grief of another, and showedher, for the first time, that happiness is only really great when in sharpcontrast with pain.

  So this long and simple love-letter from Bud, while satisfying thecravings of the lover, stirred up again the misgivings of the doubter. Andher cogitations resulted in the admission that Bud must be either one oftwo things. Either he was absolutely innocent of the imputations containedin the letter that Skidmore brought, or he was one of the most consummatevillains at large.

  There were grounds for both suppositions, and the girl, after hours ofvain struggle, found herself still in the middle ground, but more nervousand anxious than she had ever been.

  The arrival of Mike Stelton under guard two days after that of the otherrustlers created a sensation. For the girl it was the blow that shatteredanother illusion, for although she had never cared for the foreman, herbelief in his unswerving faithfulness to the Bissell house was absolute.Now to see him the admitted leader of the gang that had steadilyimpoverished her father was almost unbelievable.

  The man who brought Stelton in also brought a hurried scrawl to Julietfrom Bud, which read:

  Darling:

  We are more than half-way up the range. Have recovered 1,500 head of rebranded stock, much of which is Bar T. Stelton is the head of the rustlers and I have the proof. Sorry to foist these criminals on the Bar T, but it was the nearest ranch, and besides, I want them there when your father comes home. Also I want to be able to tell you that I love you, and will love you always. With luck, two days ought to see the end of all these troubles.

  Your Bud.

  Probably the most miserable man in the whole cow country at this time wasSmithy Caldwell. Aside from the fate he feared, his position among thecaptured rustlers was one of utter torture. The men had discovered thatit was through his selfish scheming that Stelton had been betrayed, andthey treated him with the cruelty and scorn of rough, savage men.

  So, when Stelton appeared, Caldwell fairly cringed. With the strange,unreasoning terror of a coward he feared bodily harm at the hands of theforeman, forgetting that, in all probability, his life was forfeit sooneror later.

  His fear was all but realized, for no sooner were Stelton's hands unboundas he caught sight of Caldwell than he made a leap for him and would havestrangled him then and there had not others pulled the two apart.

  "There, you whelp!" bellowed Stelton. "That's a sample of what you'll getlater on. All I ask is to see you kickin' at the end of a rope, youyellow-bellied traitor!" And Smithy, clutching at his throat, staggered,whimpering, away.

  The day after Stelton's arrival Juliet conceived the idea of questioningthe foreman about the letter that she knew Smithy Caldwell had writtenher. At her request he was brought into the living-room of the ranch housewith his hands tied to permit of the guard leaving them together.

  Now that all Bud's prophecies in regard to the man had been fulfilled,she feared him, and one glance at his dark, contorted face as he was ledin increased this fear.

  For his part the very sight of this sweet, quiet girl for whom he hadwaited so long, and through whose lover he was now doomed, brought a veryeruption of rage. His lips parted and bared his teeth, his eyes werebloodshot, and his swarthy face worked with fury.

  "Mike, I'm sorry to see you here like this," said Juliet gently.

  "A lot you are!" he sneered brutally. "You're tickled to death. Hope tosee me swing, too, I suppose?"

  "Don't talk like that," she protested, horrified at the change in the man."I'm going to try to see what I can do for you, though Heaven knows youdon't deserve much."

  Fury choked him and prevented a reply. At last he managed to articulate.

  "What do yuh want of me?" he growled.

  "I want you to tell me about a letter that I received a few days ago. Itwas brought here by a man by the name of Skidmore, who takes pictures."

  At the identification of the letter, Stelton's eyes glittered and hismouth grinned cruelly.

  "What do yuh want to know about it?" he asked.

  "First I want to know why you wrote it?"

  "I didn't write it," he snarled.

  "Well, then, why you had Caldwell write it?"

  "How do you know I had Caldwell write it?"

  His tone was nasty and she could see that he was enjoying the misery hecaused her.

  But though Juliet was humbled, she was none the less a daughter of herfather, and at Stelton's tone and manner her imperious anger flashed up.

  "Look here, Stelton," she said in a cold, even tone, "please remember whoI am and treat me with respect. If you speak to me again as you have thisafternoon I will call those men in and have you quirted up against a tree.If you don't believe me, try it."

  But Stelton was beyond speech. All the blood in him seemed to rush to hishead and distend the veins there. He struggled with his bonds so furiouslythat the girl rose to her feet in alarm. Then she walked to the librarytable, opened the drawer and took out a long, wooden-handled .45.

  With this in her possession she resumed her seat. Presently the foreman,unable to free his hands, ceased his struggles through sheer exhaustion.

  "I know you made Caldwell write that letter," she said, balancing the gun,"and I want to know why you did it?"

  Stelton, finding physical intimidation impossible, resorted to mentalcraft.

  "I didn't want you to love that sheepman," he replied sullenly.

  "Why not?"

  "Because all those things about him are true, and I thought I'd let yuhknow before yuh broke yore heart."

  She searched his face keenly and had to confess to herself that he spokewith absolute sincerity. Her face slowly paled, and for a moment the roomseemed to whirl about her. The world appeared peopled with horriblegargoyles that resembled Stelton and that leered and gibbered at hereverywhere.

  The foreman saw her wince and grow pallid, and his fury was cooled withthe ice of fiendish satisfaction. He could hurt her now.

  "Because you say so doesn't prove it to me," she managed to say at last,though she scarcely recognized the voice that came from her tremulouslips.

  "I can give you proof enough if you want it," he snapped, suddenly takenwith an idea.

  "You can?" The words were pitiful, and her voice broke with the stress ofher misery.

  "Yes."

  "How?"

&
nbsp; "Get Smithy Caldwell in here. He knew that lover of yore's when he wasn'tquite such a sheepman. He'll tell yuh things that'll make yore hair standon end."

  In his delight at his plan Stelton could not keep the exultant cruelty outof his voice.

  Juliet pounded on the floor with the butt of her weapon (this was thesignal agreed upon for the removal of Stelton), and a sheepman almostimmediately thrust his head in at the door.

  "Yes, ma'am?" he inquired.

  "Bring Smithy Caldwell in, please," she requested, "and tie his hands."

  When the miserable fellow was pushed through the doorway and saw Steltonstanding inside he shrank back against the wall and stood looking from oneto the other with the quick, white eyes of a trapped animal. The thoughtcame to him that perhaps these two were already deciding his fate, and hisweak chin quivered.

  "Sit down, Caldwell," said Juliet, coolly motioning him to one of therough chairs. He slunk into it obediently.

  "I want to ask you about that letter you sent me in which you said severalthings about Mr. Larkin," she went on not unkindly, her heart going out tothe wretch, so abject was his misery.

  "Mike here says that everything in that letter is true, and that you canprove it," she continued. "Is that so?"

  Involuntarily Caldwell looked toward Stelton for orders, as he had alwaysdone, and in those beetling brows and threatening eyes saw a menace ofpersonal injury that indicated his course at once.

  "No, don't look at Mike; look at me," cried Juliet, and Caldwellobediently switched his gaze back. "Are those things true?"

  "Yes, ma'am," said Caldwell without hesitation.

  "You mean to tell me that he was married before?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Where?"

  "In Chicago to a woman by the name of Mary. She was a cousin of mine."

  "Oh, God!" The low cry burst from Juliet's pale lips before she couldrecover herself, and Stelton lay back in his chair, feeding hisunspeakable nature upon the girl's torture.

  "Shall I tell you about it?" Caldwell, seeing his former chief waspleased, now took the initiative.

  "Oh, no, no!" she cried frantically. "I don't want to hear. I never wantto hear!"

  For a few moments there was silence in the low, bare room while Julietrecovered herself. Then she said:

  "And about that other thing in the letter. Why are the officers afterBud?"

  "For forgery, ma'am. That is, I mean, they would be after him if they kneweverything." A cunning smirk crossed Smithy's countenance.

  "Why don't they know everything?" asked the girl.

  "Because I haven't told 'em," was the reply.

  "And so you blackmailed him under threat of telling, did you?"

  "Well, he seemed to be willin'," countered Smithy evasively, "or hewouldn't have paid."

  "Why did you write me that letter, Caldwell?"

  "The boss here told me to," motioning toward Stelton.

  "What reason did he give for telling you?"

  Caldwell did not like this question. He turned and twisted in his seatwithout replying, and shot a quick glance at Stelton, uncertain what replywas expected of him. But he got no help there.

  Stelton was relishing the fear and anxiety of his tool and watched to seewhich way the other's cowardice would lead him. He was quite unpreparedfor the answer that came.

  "It is a long worm that has no turning," someone has remarked, andCaldwell had reached his length. The pure cruelty of Stelton's conductrevolted him, and now, sure that Stelton could do him no harm because ofhis tied hands, he took a vicious dig at his former leader.

  "He wanted to marry you himself," he said, "and offered me a hundreddollars to write you that letter."

  Stelton sat for a moment open-mouthed at the temerity of his subordinateand then leaped up with a roar like the bellow of a bull.

  Juliet pounded hastily on the floor, and the sheepmen appeared just asStelton fetched Caldwell a kick that sent him half-way across the room.

  "Take them both away," ordered the girl, suddenly feeling faint and illafter the mental and physical struggle of the interview.

  When the two had gone she sank back in her chair and faced the awful factsthat these men had given her.

  "Bud! Bud! My lover!" she cried brokenly to herself. "I want you, I needyou now to tell me it is all a lie!"

  She remained for several minutes sunk in a kind of torpor. Then, as thoughshe had suddenly arrived at some great decision, she rose slowly, butdeterminedly, and left the room. Finding one of the men, she ordered herhorse saddled and retired to change her clothes.

  Her mother came in and asked if she were going riding alone.

  "Yes, mother," replied the girl quietly. "I am going to Bud and find outthe truth about him. I cannot live like this any longer. I shall go crazyor kill myself. But I promise you this, that I will find father and bringhim home to you."

  The eyes of Martha Bissell clouded with long-suppressed tears.

  "God bless you, Juliet," she said. "I can't live without him any longer."