CHAPTER XXII.
ISA ISBAN.
Late that same afternoon the five boys were riding westward, whenFrank said:
"Something mysterious has happened, fellows."
"What is it?" asked Jack, who was instantly interested in any mystery.
"A short time ago I saw a horseman away down the road here."
"Yes."
"He was coming toward us."
"Well?"
"We have not met him."
"No."
"Look--the road lies before us for a mile. Where is he?"
"Not in sight, that is sure."
"He must have turned off somewhere," said Rattleton.
"That is true, but we have seen no road that turned off from this."
"Perhaps he saw us and turned aside to avoid us."
"Or it may have been Bill Higgins, the sheriff, and he is lying inwait to arrest us all," suggested Browning.
"It was not Higgins," assured Merriwell. "It was a young man, I amsure, although I obtained but a glimpse of him through the trees. Wehave passed no house since then."
"Never mind him," said Harry. "We must find a place to stop for thenight."
"I wish we might learn what has happened to Hodge before we stop. Idon't believe Higgins recaptured him."
"It's ten chances to one we'll never hear anything more about himwhile we are in California."
"I know that, and I am sorry. I wanted to keep him with us, for he isin great need of friends to straighten him up. He has fallen in withbad companions, and they are ruining him."
"I should say so!" exclaimed Diamond. "He is a fool to let himself beworked by a girl."
"Don't take Hodge for a fool, Jack. He is anything but a fool, but heis easily influenced, and he is proud and passionate. Fairly startedon the wrong road, he may go to ruin in a hurry. If we could get himout of this State--save him from arrest! Should he be arrested, triedand condemned, it would mean his utter and complete ruin. Afterserving a term in prison, he would feel the disgrace so deeply thatnothing could save him."
"Well, you have taken a big contract if you are going to try to savehim now," Diamond declared.
"It might be done, but----Hello! this looks like a path."
Frank was off his wheel in a moment, and he quickly decided that apath led from the regular trail into the dark shadows to the forest tothe northward.
"Wonder where it would take us," he muttered. And then, seized by asudden inspiration, he cried:
"Come on, fellows; let's go on an exploring expedition."
Diamond protested, and Browning growled after his usual lazy manner,but Frank was supported by Rattleton and Toots, and the majorityruled.
The path, where it turned off from the road, seemed to be somewhathidden, but it soon became plain enough, and they were able to ridealong in single file, Merriwell leading.
They had proceeded in this manner about a mile when they came in sightof a small cabin that was set down in a little hollow amid the trees.
The place looked lonely and deserted, but Frank rode straight towardit, and the others followed.
The boys dismounted before the cabin, and Merriwell rapped loudly onthe door. He was forced to knock three times before he obtained aresponse.
The door opened slowly, and a bent and feeble-looking man with dirtywhite hair looked at them.
"Who are you?" he asked, in a cracked voice, suspicion showing plainlyin his eyes, which were bright and clear for all of his age.
"Travelers," replied Frank, cheerfully. "We were passing, and, asnight is at hand, we decided to ask shelter here."
"It is useless to ask," the man declared, with a shake of his head. "Ican't keep you. It is very strange that you should be passing thisplace. The road does not come within a mile of here."
"That is true, but we found a path, and became convinced that it mustlead to a house, so here we are."
"You have had your trouble for nothing; I shall not keep you."
"Hospitable old man!" murmured Browning, sarcastically.
Despite his age, the man was not hard of hearing, for he caught thebig fellow's words and shot him a look.
"Surely you will not turn us away now," urged Frank. "It will be darkby the time we reach the road again."
"That is nothing to me."
The old man was about to close the door, when, to the astonishment ofthe boys, a musical, girlish voice said:
"Let them stop here, Drew. I know one of the young gentlemen."
The bicyclists looked at each other inquiringly, wondering which oneof them the owner of the voice could know. They all felt a thrill, forthis added zest and romance to the little adventure.
"Am I dreaming?" whispered Bruce; "or did I hear the gentle ripple ofa female voice?"
"Smoly hoke!" gasped Harry. "To find a girl in this spone lot--I meanlone spot! It is a marvel!"
"An' dat voice oh hers am lek honeydew from heabben, chilluns--'deedit am!" gurgled Toots, poetically.
The old man seemed astonished and in doubt.
"Do you mean it, my dear?" he asked. "It was on your account----"
"Never mind me, Drew," came back that musical voice. "It would be ashame to turn them away."
"But--but----"
"There are no buts about it!" cried the voice sharply, almost angrily."You have heard what I said! They may stop here."
"All right--all right, if you say so. There's nothing for them to eat,and so----"
"I'll cook something, for you have corn meal in the house. Young menwho ride wheels have appetites that enable them to eat anything."
"All right--all right," repeated the old man, vaguely.
"Let them put their bicycles under the shed back of the house."
The old man came out, closing the door.
"It is my niece, young gentlemen," he explained. "She is verypeculiar, and--well, when she says anything, that settles it, soyou'll have to stay."
"Under the circumstances," said Frank, his natural delicacyinfluencing him, although he was rather curious to see the owner ofthat voice, "I am inclined to think we're intruding, and we had bettergo on."
For a moment the face of the old man expressed relief, and then thatlook vanished, while he shook his head.
"No," he said, "that will not do now. She has decided that you shallstop, and she will not leave any hair on my head if you go away. Youmust stop."
"She must be a gentle maiden!" murmured Bruce, with a faint smile.
The boys followed the old man around to a shed, under which theyplaced their wheels. The shed had sometimes been used to shelterhorses, but no horse was there then.
"You mustn't mind my niece," said the old man, apologetically. "Shehas been spoiled, and she is determined to have her own way. She runsthe ranch."
Again the boys looked at each other.
"I wonder which of us she knows," said Harry.
"It must be Merriwell," Diamond declared. "It could not be any oneelse. This is a joke on him."
Diamond's ideas of a joke were decidedly peculiar.
He seldom saw anything humorous in what pleased his companions, and hetook delight in things which did not amuse them at all. He seldomlaughed at anything.
Frank himself felt that he was the one the girl knew, if, indeed, sheknew any of them, and he was wondering where he had met her. In thecourse of his wanderings over the world he had met many girls, not afew of whom he had forgotten entirely.
"If she is one of your old girls, I'm going to make a stagger atcutting you out, old fellow," chuckled Rattleton.
"Oh, I don't know!" smiled Frank. "You're not so warm!"
"Just now I don't see any steam coming out of your shoes," Harry shotback, quickly. "You're not the only good thing on the programme; youmight be cut out."
"Land sakes, chilluns!" exclaimed Toots, with uplifted hands. "Inebber heard no such slanguage as dat--nebber!"
"Any of you fellows may have the girl, if you want her," said Jack. "Ihave not seen her, but I'm
sure she is a terror, and I don't care forthat kind."
They followed the old man toward the door, and entered the house.
A lamp had been lighted while they were disposing of their wheels, andthe girl was standing where the unsatisfactory light showed her faceas plainly as was possible.
She was strikingly handsome, with dark hair and eyes and full redlips. An expectant flush of color was in her cheeks.
As Frank entered, the girl extended her hand to him, saying:
"I am glad to see you again, Mr. Merriwell. Have you forgotten me?"
"Good gracious!" cried Merriwell. "It is Vida Milburn!"
She tossed her head, her hand dropping by her side.
"That is not complimentary to me!" she exclaimed. "It shows youremembered my half-sister far better than you did me."
"Your half-sister? Then you are not Vida!"
"No, thank you!"--with another haughty toss of the head.
"Then--then you must be--Isa Isban!"
"How remarkable that you should guess it," she said, with bitingsarcasm.
"But--you--you must remember it has been some time since I saw you,and--and I saw Miss Melburn last."
"You saw me first, and you were so interested in me that you followedme from Reno to Carson City. After that you met my sister, and now youmistake me for her! I am extremely complimented, Mr. Merriwell! Nevermind. You are not so many! Perhaps you will introduce your friends.Some of them may have a better memory than you."
For once in his life, at least, Frank was "rattled." He introducedBrowning as Rattling and Diamond as Brownton, while he completelyforgot Harry's name.
The girl laughed sharply, plainly enjoying his embarrassment. Sheshook hands with all but Toots, saying:
"Mr. Merriwell doesn't seem to be at his best. It is possible he hasridden too far to-day."
Then Frank pulled himself together, and immediately became as cool andcollected as usual, which was no easy thing to do.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Isban, but I was just thinking I had notridden far enough."
He said it in his most suave manner, but the shot went home, and itbrought still more color to her flushed cheeks.
"Oh!" she cried, with the same toss of her head, "if your wheel is notbroken, it is not too late to make several more miles before absolutedarkness comes on."
Diamond edged up to Frank, and whispered:
"Careful, Merry! You're getting her very angry, and she is a mightyfine girl. Go easy, old man!"
This was very amusing to Merriwell, for but a short time beforeDiamond had expressed himself quite freely in regard to the girl, andit was plain his ideas had undergone a change since seeing her.
"Don't worry," Frank returned. "She won't mind a little scrap. I thinkshe will enjoy it. She is that kind."
This did not seem to satisfy the young Virginian, who immediately setabout making himself as agreeable as possible with Isa.
The boys were invited to sit down, and seats were provided for all ofthem.
Frank became rather serious, for thoughts of Hodge's misfortune beganto trouble him, and he remembered that this girl was responsible forit all.
Isa did not look a day older than when he had last seen her, and itwas hard to realize that she was a woman with an experience and a deadhusband.
Browning was silent and apparently contented. He seemed to take greatsatisfaction in sitting down and resting.
After a little silence, Isa observed, seeming to take a malicioussatisfaction in what she said:
"One of Mr. Merriwell's friends had not forgotten me, at least."
"It might have been better for him if he had," returned Frank, in amanner that surprised himself, for never before had he made such anungallant remark.
The girl's eyes blazed and she bit her lip. It seemed that she was onthe point of an outburst, but she restrained herself and laughed. Thatlaugh was defiant and angry.
"Oh, well, I don't know!" she said. "The person I speak of may find Iwill stand by him better than some of his friends who would havelooked on while he was dragged away to jail."
This was a surprise to Frank, for it showed that the girl knewsomething about the adventure with Bill Higgins, which had taken placethat day.
"So you have seen him since?" asked Merry, eagerly. "Where is he?"
"Find out."
"I shall be able to find out in time, I think, Miss Isban."
"As far as he is concerned, you need not worry, for I do not think hecares to see you again."
"I do not believe that. He knows me too well, and he trusts me."
"He thought he knew you, but he did not fancy you would remain passiveand see him placed under arrest."
"I did not."
"What did you do?"
"I did not have an opportunity to do much except save his life."
"Save his life?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I kept him from being bored by a bullet from Bill Higgins' gun."
"How did you do so much?"
"I spoiled Higgins' aim."
"Well, that was most remarkable! I presume you expect him to show theutmost gratitude for a service that any man might render another!"
She snapped her fingers toward Frank, laughing scornfully:
"That's where you fool yourself. Mr. Hodge has told me that he hopedhe might never meet you again. He has found other and better friends."
"Perhaps you speak the truth."
The manner in which Frank uttered the words implied not only a doubtbut a positive belief that she was not speaking the truth and she didnot misunderstand them. Her teeth clicked together, gleaming beyondher curved, red lips, and her hands were clinched. On her whitefingers were a number of rings, set with diamonds, which flashed andblazed like her eyes.
"I care not whether you think I speak the truth or not," she said, andturned her back upon him.
Diamond evinced positive distress.
"I can't understand you, Merriwell!" he said, in an aside. "It is notat all like you. Why, you are always gallant and courteous to ladies."
"That is right," agreed Frank, with deep meaning. "I am."
Jack did not like that.
"And you mean to insinuate that this beautiful girl is not a lady?"
"I have my doubts."
"Still it seems to me that you have made a bad break in your treatmentof her. You were very rude. That is not the way to treat a younglady."
"It is not the way to treat the most of them; but, my dear fellow, youwill have to learn that they differ as much as men. If you were totreat all men with the utmost courtesy and consideration, you wouldfind that not a few would regard you as a weak-kneed slob. They wouldimpose on you, and their opinion of you would sink lower and lower asyou permitted them to continue their impositions without giving backas good as they sent. In this respect, there is a class of women whoresemble men. Of course you cannot handle them as you would men, butyou can't be soft with them. A man who insulted you you would knockdown. You can't strike a woman, but you can strike her in a differentway, and, in nine cases out of ten, if she is of a certain sort, shewill think all the more of you in the end."
"Well, I am sure you have made a mistake with Miss Isban. I could seeher deep anger and hatred for you in her eyes. She would like tostrangle you this minute."
"I haven't a doubt of it," coolly smiled Frank, his manner showing notthe least concern.
"She will hate and despise you as long as she lives."
"If so, it will make little difference to me."
Up to this time Jack had not dreamed that Frank could be anything butcourteous and bending to a lady, and now the Southerner saw there wasa turn to his friend's character that he had not suspected.
Merriwell had not been at all brutal in his manner, but his words hadtouched Isa Isban like blows of a whip. They had stung her and stirredher blood, although they were spoken in a way that showed the naturalpolish and training of their author.
In truth the girl long
ed to fly at Frank Merriwell's throat. She feltthat she could strike him in the face with her hands and feel thekeenest delight in doing so.
As she turned toward him again, there came a sharp knock on the door.