Chapter XVIII. HOW THE KILLER WAS SINGED
No further harm came of the incident; but it served as a healthyobject-lesson for the Dalesmen.
A coincidence it may have been, but, as a fact, for the fortnightsucceeding Kirby's exploit there was a lull in the crimes. Therefollowed, as though to make amends, the seven days still remembered inthe Daleland as the Bloody Week.
On the Sunday the Squire lost a Cheviot ewe, killed not a hundred yardsfrom the Manor wall. On the Monday a farm on the Black Water was markedwith the red cross. On Tuesday--a black night--Tupper at Swinsthwaitecame upon the murderer at his work; he fired into the darkness withouteffect; and the Killer escaped with a scaring. On the following nightViscount Birdsaye lost a shearling ram, for which he was reported tohave paid a fabulous sum. Thursday was the one blank night of the week.On Friday Tupper was again visited and punished heavily, as though inrevenge for that shot.
On the Saturday afternoon a big meeting was held at the Manor to discussmeasures. The Squire presided; gentlemen and magistrates were there innumbers, and every farmer in the country-side.
To start the proceedings the Special Commissioner read a futile letterfrom the Board of Agriculture. After him Viscount Birdsaye rose andproposed that a reward more suitable to the seriousness of the casethan the paltry 5 pounds of the Police should be offered, and backed hisproposal with a 25 pound cheque. Several others spoke, and, last of all,Parson Leggy rose.
He briefly summarized the history of the crimes; reiterated his beliefthat a sheep-dog was the criminal; declared that nothing had occurredto shake his conviction; and concluded by offering a remedy for theirconsideration. Simple it was, so he said, to laughableness; yet, iftheir surmise was correct, it would serve as an effectual preventive ifnot cure, and would at least give them time to turn round. He paused.
"My suggestion is: That every man-jack of you who owns a sheep-dog tieshim up at night."
The farmers were given half an hour to consider the proposal, andclustered in knots talking it over. Many an eye was directed on M'Adam;but that little man appeared all unconscious.
"Weel, Mr. Saunderson," he was saying in, shrill accents, "and shall yetie Shep?"
"What d'yo' think?" asked Rob, eying the man at whom the measure wasaimed.
"Why, it's this way, I'm thinkin'," the little man replied. "Gin ye haudShep's the guilty one I _wad_, by all manner o' means--or shootin'd beaiblins better. If not, why"--he shrugged his shoulders significantly;and having shown his hand and driven the nail well home, the little manleft the meeting.
James Moore stayed to see the Parson's resolution negatived, by a largemajority, and then he too quitted the hall. He had foreseen the result,and, previous to the meeting, had warned the Parson how it would be.
"Tie up!" he cried almost indignantly, as Owd Bob came galloping upto his whistle; "I think I see myself chainin' yo', owd lad, like anymurderer. Why, it's yo' has kept the Killer off Kenmuir so far, I'lllay."
At the lodge-gate was M'Adam, for once without his familiar spirit,playing with the lodge-keeper's child; for the little man loved allchildren but his own, and was beloved of them. As the Master approachedhe looked up.
"Weel, Moore," he called, "and are you gaein' to tie yer dog?"
"I will if you will yours," the Master answered grimly.
"Na," the little man replied, "it's Wullie as frichts the Killer aff theGrange. That's why I've left him there noo."
"It's the same wi' me," the Master said. "He's not come to Kenmuir yet,nor he'll not so long as Th' Owd Un's loose, I reck'n."
"Loose or tied, for the matter o' that," the little man rejoined,"Kenmuir'll escape." He made the statement dogmatically, snapping hislips.
The Master frowned.
"Why that?" he asked.
"Ha' ye no heard what they're sayin'?" the little man inquired withraised eyebrows.
"Nay; what?"
"Why, that the mere repitation o' th' best sheep-dog in the North'should keep him aff. An' I guess they're reet," and he laughed shrillyas he spoke.
The Master passed on, puzzled.
"Which road are ye gaein' hame?" M'Adam called after him. "Because,"with a polite smile, "I'll tak' t'ither."
"I'm off by the Windy Brae," the Master answered, striding on. "Squireasked me to leave a note wi' his shepherd t'other side o' the Chair."So he headed away to the left, making for home by the route along theSilver Mere.
It is a long sweep of almost unbroken moorland, the well-called WindyBrae; sloping gently down in mile on mile of heather from the MereMarches on the top to the fringe of the Silver Mere below. In all thatwaste of moor the only break is the quaint-shaped Giant's Chair,puzzle of geologists, looking as though plumped down by accident in theheathery wild. The ground rises suddenly from the uniform grade of theBrae; up it goes, ever growing steeper, until at length it runs abruptlyinto a sheer curtain of rock--the Fall--which rises perpendicular someforty feet, on the top of which rests that tiny grassy bowl--not twentyyards across--they call the Scoop.
The Scoop forms the seat of the Chair and reposes on its collar of rock,cool and green and out of the world, like wine in a metal cup; in frontis the forty-foot Fall; behind, rising sheer again, the wall of rockwhich makes the back of the Chair. Inaccessible from above, the onlymeans of entrance to that little dell are two narrow sheep-tracks, whichcrawl dangerously up between the sheer wall on the one hand and thesheer Fall on the other, entering it at opposite sides.
It stands out clear-cut from the gradual incline, that peculiareminence; yet as the Master and Owd Bob debouched on to the Brae it wasalready invisible in the darkening night.
Through the heather the two swung, the Master thinking now with a smileof David and Maggie; wondering what M'Adam had meant; musing with afrown on the Killer; pondering on his identity--for he was half ofDavid's opinion as to Red Wull's innocence; and thanking his stars thatso far Kenmuir had escaped, a piece of luck he attributed entirely tothe vigilance of Th' Owd Un, who, sleeping in the porch, slipped out atall hours and went his rounds, warding off danger. And at the thoughthe looked down for the dark head which should be travelling at his knee;yet could not see it, so thick hung the pall of night.
So he brushed his way along, and ever the night grew blacker; until,from the swell of the ground beneath his feet, he knew himself skirtingthe Giant's Chair.
Now as he sped along the foot of the rise, of a sudden there burston his ear the myriad patter of galloping feet. He turned, and at thesecond a swirl of sheep almost bore him down. It was velvet-black,and they fled furiously by, yet he dimly discovered, driving at theirtrails, a vague hound-like form.
"The Killer, by thunder!" he ejaculated, and, startled though he was,struck down at that last pursuing shape, to miss and almost fall.
"Bob, lad!" he cried, "follow on!" and swung round; but in the darknesscould not see if the gray dog had obeyed.
The chase swept on into the night, and, far above him on the hill-side,he could now hear the rattle of the flying feet. He started hotly inpursuit, and then, recognizing the futility of following where hecould not see his hand, desisted. So he stood motionless, listeningand peering into the blackness, hoping Th' Owd Un was on the villain'sheels.
He prayed for the moon; and, as though in answer, the lantern of thenight shone out and lit the dour face of the Chair above him. He shot aglance at his feet; and thanked heaven on finding the gray dog was notbeside him.
Then he looked up. The sheep had broken, and were scattered over thesteep hill-side, still galloping madly. In the rout one pair of dartingfigures caught and held his gaze: the foremost dodging, twisting,speeding upward, the hinder hard on the leader's heels, swift,remorseless, never changing. He looked for a third pursuing form; butnone could he discern.
"He mun ha' missed him in the dark," the Master muttered, the sweatstanding on his brow, as he strained his eyes upward.
Higher and higher sped those two dark specks, far out-topping thescattered remnant of the flock. Up
and up, until of a sudden the sheerFall dropped its relentless barrier in the path of the fugitive. Away,scudding along the foot of the rock-wall struck the familiar trackleading to the Scoop, and up it, bleating pitifully, nigh spent, theKiller hard on her now.
"He'll doon her in the Scoop!" cried the Master hoarsely, followingwith fascinated eyes. "Owd Un! Owd Un! wheer iver are yo' gotten to?" hecalled in agony; but no Owd Un made reply.
As they reached the summit, just as he had prophesied, the two blackdots were one; and down they rolled together into the hollow of theScoop, out of the Master's ken. At the same instant the moon, as thoughloth to watch the last act of the bloody play, veiled her face.
It was his chance. "Noo!"--and up the hillside he sped like a young man,girding his loins for the struggle. The slope grew steep and steeper;but on and on he held in the darkness, gasping painfully, yet runningstill, until the face of the Fall blocked his way too.
There he paused a moment, and whistled a low call. Could he but dispatchthe old dog up the one path to the Scoop, while he took the other, themurderer's one road to safety would be blocked.
He waited, all expectant; but no cold muzzle was shoved into his hand.Again he whistled. A pebble from above almost dropped on him, as if thecriminal up there had moved to the brink of the Fall to listen; and hedared no more.
He waited till all was still again, then crept, cat-like, along therock-foot, and hit, at length, the track up which a while before hadfled Killer and victim. Up that ragged way he crawled on hands andknees. The perspiration rolled off his face; one elbow brushed the rockperpetually; one hand plunged ever and anon into that naked emptiness onthe other side.
He prayed that the moon might keep in but a little longer; that his feetmight be saved from falling, where a slip might well mean death, certaindestruction to any chance of success. He cursed his luck that Th' Owd Unhad somehow missed him in the dark; for now he must trust to chance, hisown great strength, and his good oak stick. And as he climbed, he laidhis plan: to rush in on the Killer as he still gorged and grapplewith him. If in the darkness he missed--and in that narrow arena thecontingency was improbable--the murderer might still, in the panic ofthe moment, forget the one path to safety and leap over the Fall to hisdestruction.
At length he reached the summit and paused to draw breath. Theblack void before him was the Scoop, and in its bosom--not ten yardsaway--must be lying the Killer and the killed.
He crouched against the wet rock-face and listened. In that darksilence, poised 'twixt heaven and earth, he seemed a million miles apartfrom living soul.
No sound, and yet the murderer must be there. Ay, there was the tinkleof a dislodged stone; and again, the tread of stealthy feet.
The Killer was moving; alarmed; was off.
Quick!
He rose to his full height; gathered himself, and leapt.
Something collided with him as he sprang; something wrestled madly withhim; something wrenched from beneath him; and in a clap he heardthe thud of a body striking ground far below, and the slithering andsplattering of some creature speeding furiously down the hill-side andaway.
"Who the blazes?" roared he.
"What the devil?" screamed a little voice.
The moon shone out.
"Moore!"
"M'Adam!"
And there they were still struggling over the body of a dead sheep.
In a second they had disengaged and rushed to the edge of the Fall. Inthe quiet they could still hear the scrambling hurry of the fugitive farbelow them. Nothing was to be seen, however, save an array of startledsheep on the hill-side, mute witnesses of the murderer's escape.
The two men turned and eyed each other; the one grim, the othersardonic: both dishevelled and suspicious.
"Well?''
"Weel?"
A pause and, careful scrutiny.
"There's blood on your coat."
"And on yours."
Together they walked hack into the little moonlit hollow. There lay themurdered sheep in a pool of blood. Plain it was to see whence the markson their coats came. M'Adam touched the victim's head with his foot. Themovement exposed its throat. With a shudder he replaced it as it was.
The two men stood back and eyed one another.
"What are yo' doin' here?"
"After the Killer. What are you?"
"After the Killer?"
"Hoo did you come?"
"Up this path," pointing to the one behind him. "Hoo did you?"
"Up this."
Silence; then again:
"I'd ha' had him but for yo'."
"I did have him, but ye tore me aff,"
A pause again.
"Where's yer gray dog?" This time the challenge was unmistakable.
"I sent him after the Killer. Wheer's your Red Wull?"
"At hame, as I tell't ye before."
"Yo' mean yo' left him there?" M'Adam's fingers twitched.
"He's where I left him."
James Moore shrugged his shoulders. And the other began:
"When did yer dog leave ye?"
"When the Killer came past."
"Ye wad say ye missed him then?"
"I say what I mean."
"Ye say he went after the Killer. Noo the Killer was here," pointing tothe dead sheep. "Was your dog here, too?"
"If he had been he'd been here still."
"Onless he went over the Fall!"
"That was the Killer, yo' fule."
"Or your dog."
"There was only _one_ beneath me. I felt him."
"Just so," said M'Adam, and laughed. The other's brow contracted.
"An' that was a big un," he said slowly. The little man stopped hiscackling.
"There ye lie," he said, smoothly. "He was small."
They looked one another full in the eyes.
"That's a matter of opinion," said the Master.
"It's a matter of fact," said the other.
The two stared at one another, silent and stern, each trying to fathomthe other's soul; then they turned again to the brink of the Fall.Beneath them, plain to see, was the splash and furrow in the shinglemarking the Killer's line of retreat. They looked at one another again,and then each departed the way he had come to give his version of thestory.
"'If Th' Owd Un had kept wi' me, I should ha' had him."
And--
"I tell ye I did have him, but James Moore pulled me aff. Strange, too,his dog not bein' wi' him!"