CHAPTER VIII
The brief hour of darkness that preceded the dawn was that nightintensified by a dense smoke, which, after blotting out horizon and sky,dropped a thick veil on the high road and the silent streets of IndianSpring. As the buggy containing Sheriff Dunn and Brace dashed throughthe obscurity, Brace suddenly turned to his companion.
"Some one ahead!"
The two men bent forward over the dashboard. Above the steady plungingof their own horse-hoofs they could hear the quicker irregular beat ofother hoofs in the darkness before them.
"It's that horse thief!" said Dunn, in a savage whisper. "Bear to theright, and hand me the whip."
A dozen cuts of the cruel lash, and their maddened horse, bounding ateach stroke, broke into a wild canter. The frail vehicle swayed fromside to side at each spring of the elastic shafts. Steadying himself byone hand on the low rail, Dunn drew his revolver with the other. "Singout to him to pull up, or we'll fire. My voice is clean gone," he added,in a husky whisper.
They were so near that they could distinguish the bulk of a vehiclecareering from side to side in the blackness ahead. Dunn deliberatelyraised his weapon. "Sing out!" he repeated impatiently. But Brace, whowas still keeping in the shadow, suddenly grasped his companion's arm.
"Hush! It's NOT Buckskin," he whispered hurriedly.
"Are you sure?"
"DON'T YOU SEE WE'RE GAINING ON HIM?" replied the other contemptuously.Dunn grasped his companion's hand and pressed it silently. Even inthat supreme moment this horseman's tribute to the fugitive Buckskinforestalled all baser considerations of pursuit and capture!
In twenty seconds they were abreast of the stranger, crowding his horseand buggy nearly into the ditch; Brace keenly watchful, Dunn suppressedand pale. In half a minute they were leading him a length; and whentheir horse again settled down to his steady work, the stranger wasalready lost in the circling dust that followed them. But the victorsseemed disappointed. The obscurity had completely hidden all but thevague outlines of the mysterious driver.
"He's not our game, anyway," whispered Dunn. "Drive on."
"But if it was some friend of his," suggested Brace uneasily, "whatwould you do?"
"What I SAID I'd do," responded Dunn savagely. "I don't want fiveminutes to do it in, either; we'll be half an hour ahead of that d--dfool, whoever he is. Look here; all you've got to do is to put me in thetrail to that cabin. Stand back of me, out of gun-shot, alone, if youlike, as my deputy, or with any number you can pick up as my posse.If he gets by me as Nellie's lover, you may shoot him or take him as ahorse thief, if you like."
"Then you won't shoot him on sight?"
"Not till I've had a word with him."
"But--"
"I've chirped," said the sheriff gravely. "Drive on."
For a few moments only the plunging hoofs and rattling wheels wereheard. A dull, lurid glow began to define the horizon. They were silentuntil an abatement of the smoke, the vanishing of the gloomy horizonline, and a certain impenetrability in the darkness ahead showed themthey were nearing the Carquinez Woods. But they were surprised onentering them to find the dim aisles alight with a faint mystic Aurora.The tops of the towering spires above them had caught the gleam of thedistant forest fires, and reflected it as from a gilded dome.
"It would be hot work if the Carquinez Woods should conclude to take ahand in this yer little game that's going on over on the Divide yonder,"said Brace, securing his horse and glancing at the spires overhead."I reckon I'd rather take a back seat at Injin Spring when the showcommences."
Dunn did not reply, but, buttoning his coat, placed one hand on hiscompanion's shoulder, and sullenly bade him "lead the way." Advancingslowly and with difficulty the desperate man might have been taken for apeaceful invalid returning from an early morning stroll. His right handwas buried thoughtfully in the side pocket of his coat. Only Brace knewthat it rested on the handle of his pistol.
From time to time the latter stopped and consulted the faint trail witha minuteness that showed recent careful study. Suddenly he paused. "Imade a blaze hereabouts to show where to leave the trail. There it is,"he added, pointing to a slight notch cut in the trunk of an adjoiningtree.
"But we've just passed one," said Dunn, "if that's what you are lookingafter, a hundred yards back."
Brace uttered an oath, and ran back in the direction signified by hiscompanion. Presently he returned with a smile of triumph.
"They've suspected something. It's a clever trick, but it won't holdwater. That blaze which was done to muddle you was cut with an axe; thiswhich I made was done with a bowie-knife. It's the real one. We're notfar off now. Come on."
They proceeded cautiously, at right angles with the "blazed" tree, forten minutes more. The heat was oppressive; drops of perspiration rolledfrom the forehead of the sheriff, and at times, when he attempted tosteady his uncertain limbs, his hands shrank from the heated, blisteringbark he touched with ungloved palms.
"Here we are," said Brace, pausing at last. "Do you see that biggesttree, with the root stretching out halfway across to the opposite one?"
"No, it's further to the right and abreast of the dead brush,"interrupted Dunn quickly, with a sudden revelation that this was thespot where he had found the dead bear in the night Teresa escaped.
"That's so," responded Brace, in astonishment.
"And the opening is on the other side, opposite the dead brush," saidDunn.
"Then you know it?" said Brace suspiciously.
"I reckon!" responded Dunn, grimly. "That's enough! Fall back!"
To the surprise of his companion, he lifted his head erect, and with astrong, firm step walked directly to the tree. Reaching it, he plantedhimself squarely before the opening.
"Halloo!" he said.
There was no reply. A squirrel scampered away close to his feet. Brace,far in the distance, after an ineffectual attempt to distinguish hiscompanion through the intervening trunks, took off his coat, leanedagainst a tree, and lit a cigar.
"Come out of that cabin!" continued Dunn, in a clear, resonant voice."Come out before I drag you out!"
"All right, 'Captain Scott.' Don't shoot, and I'll come down," said avoice as clear and as high as his own. The hanging strips of bark weredashed aside, and a woman leaped lightly to the ground.
Dunn staggered back. "Teresa! by the Eternal!"
It was Teresa! the old Teresa! Teresa, a hundred times more vicious,reckless, hysterical, extravagant, and outrageous than before. Teresa,staring with tooth and eye, sunburnt and embrowned, her hair hangingdown her shoulders, and her shawl drawn tightly around her neck.
"Teresa it is! the same old gal! Here we are again! Return of thefavorite in her original character! For two weeks only! Houp la! Tshk!"and, catching her yellow skirt with her fingers, she pirouetted beforethe astounded man, and ended in a pose. Recovering himself with aneffort, Dunn dashed forward and seized her by the wrist.
"Answer me, woman! Is that Low's cabin?"
"It is."
"Who occupies it besides?"
"I do."
"And who else?"
"Well," drawled Teresa slowly, with an extravagant affectation ofmodesty, "nobody else but us, I reckon. Two's company, you know, andthree's none."
"Stop! Will you swear that there isn't a young girl, his--hissweetheart--concealed there with you?"
The fire in Teresa's eye was genuine as she answered steadily, "Well,it ain't my style to put up with that sort of thing; at least, it wasn'tover at Yolo, and you know it, Jim Dunn, or I wouldn't be here."
"Yes, yes," said Dunn hurriedly. "But I'm a d--d fool, or worse, thefool of a fool. Tell me, Teresa, is this man Low your lover?"
Teresa lowered her eyes as if in maidenly confusion. "Well, if I'd knownthat YOU had any feeling of your own about it--if you'd spoken sooner--"
"Answer me, you devil!"
"He is."
"And he has been with you here--yesterday--to-night?"
"He has."
"
Enough." He laughed a weak, foolish laugh, and, turning pale, suddenlylapsed against a tree. He would have fallen, but with a quick instinctTeresa sprang to his side, and supported him gently to a root. Theaction over, they both looked astounded.
"I reckon that wasn't much like either you or me," said Dunn slowly,"was it? But if you'd let me drop then you'd have stretched out thebiggest fool in the Sierras." He paused, and looked at her curiously."What's come over you; blessed if I seem to know you now."
She was very pale again, and quiet; that was all.
"Teresa! d--n it, look here! When I was laid up yonder in Excelsior Isaid I wanted to get well for only two things. One was to hunt you down,the other to marry Nellie Wynn. When I came here I thought that lastthing could never be. I came here expecting to find her here with Low,and kill him--perhaps kill her too. I never once thought of you; notonce. You might have risen up before me--between me and him--and I'dhave passed you by. And now that I find it's all a mistake, and it wasyou, not her, I was looking for, why--"
"Why," she interrupted bitterly, "you'll just take me, of course, tosave your time and earn your salary. I'm ready."
"But I'M not, just yet," he said faintly. "Help me up."
She mechanically assisted him to his feet.
"Now stand where you are," he added, "and don't move beyond this treetill I return."
He straightened himself with an effort, clenched his fists until thenails were nearly buried in his palms, and strode with a firm, steadystep in the direction he had come. In a few moments he returned andstood before her.
"I've sent away my deputy--the man who brought me here, the fool whothought you were Nellie. He knows now he made a mistake. But who it washe mistook for Nellie he does not know, nor shall ever know, nor shallany living being know, other than myself. And when I leave the woodto-day I shall know it no longer. You are safe here as far as I amconcerned, but I cannot screen you from others prying. Let Low take youaway from here as soon as he can."
"Let him take me away? Ah, yes. For what?"
"To save you," said Dunn. "Look here, Teresa! Without knowing it, youlifted me out of hell just now, and because of the wrong I might havedone her--for HER sake, I spare you and shirk my duty."
"For her sake!" gasped the woman--"for her sake! Oh, yes! Go on."
"Well," said Dunn gloomily, "I reckon perhaps you'd as lieve left me inhell, for all the love you bear me. And may be you've grudge enough aginme still to wish I'd found her and him together."
"You think so?" she said, turning her head away.
"There, d--n it! I didn't mean to make you cry. May be you wouldn't,then. Only tell that fellow to take you out of this, and not run awaythe next time he sees a man coming."
"He didn't run," said Teresa, with flashing eyes. "I--I--I sent himaway," she stammered. Then, suddenly turning with fury upon him, shebroke out, "Run! Run from you! Ha, ha! You said just now I'd a grudgeagainst you. Well, listen, Jim Dunn. I'd only to bring you in range ofthat young man's rifle, and you'd have dropped in your tracks like--"
"Like that bar, the other night," said Dunn, with a short laugh. "SoTHAT was your little game?" He checked his laugh suddenly--a cloudpassed over his face. "Look here, Teresa," he said, with an assumptionof carelessness that was as transparent as it was utterly incompatiblewith his frank, open selfishness. "What became of that bar? Theskin--eh? That was worth something?"
"Yes," said Teresa quietly. "Low exchanged it and got a ring for me fromthat trader Isaacs. It was worth more, you bet. And the ring didn't fiteither--"
"Yes," interrupted Dunn, with an almost childish eagerness.
"And I made him take it back, and get the value in money. I hear thatIsaacs sold it again and made another profit; but that's like thosetraders." The disingenuous candor of Teresa's manner was in exquisitecontrast to Dunn. He rose and grasped her hand so heartily she wasforced to turn her eyes away.
"Good-by!" he said.
"You look tired," she murmured, with a sudden gentleness that surprisedhim; "let me go with you a part of the way."
"It isn't safe for you just now," he said, thinking of the possibleconsequences of the alarm Brace had raised.
"Not the way YOU came," she replied; "but one known only to myself."
He hesitated only a moment. "All right, then," he said finally, "letus go at once. It's suffocating here, and I seem to feel this dead barkcrinkle under my feet."
She cast a rapid glance around her, and then seemed to sound with hereyes the far-off depths of the aisles, beginning to grow pale with theadvancing day, but still holding a strange quiver of heat in the air.When she had finished her half-abstracted scrutiny of the distance, shecast one backward glance at her own cabin and stopped.
"Will you wait a moment for me?" she asked gently.
"Yes--but--no tricks, Teresa! It isn't worth the time."
She looked him squarely in the eyes without a word.
"Enough," he said; "go!"
She was absent for some moments. He was beginning to become uneasy, whenshe made her appearance again, clad in her old faded black dress. Herface was very pale, and her eyes were swollen, but she placed his handon her shoulder, and bidding him not to fear to lean upon her, for shewas quite strong, led the way.
"You look more like yourself now, and yet--blast it all!--you don'teither," said Dunn, looking down upon her. "You've changed in some way.What is it? Is it on account of that Injin? Couldn't you have found awhite man in his place?"
"I reckon he's neither worse nor better for that," she replied bitterly;"and perhaps he wasn't as particular in his taste as a white man mighthave been. But," she added, with a sudden spasm of her old rage, "it'sa lie; he's NOT an Indian, no more than I am. Not unless being born ofa mother who scarcely knew him, of a father who never even saw him, andbeing brought up among white men and wild beasts--less cruel than theywere--could make him one!"
Dunn looked at her in surprise not unmixed with admiration. "If Nellie,"he thought, "could but love ME like that!" But he only said:
"For all that, he's an Injin. Why, look at his name. It ain't Low. It'sL'Eau Dormante, Sleeping Water, an Injin name."
"And what does that prove?" returned Teresa. "Only that Indians clap anick-name on any stranger, white or red, who may camp with them. Why,even his own father, a white man, the wretch who begot him and abandonedhim,--HE had an Indian name--Loup Noir."
"What name did you say?"
"Le Loup Noir, the Black Wolf. I suppose you'd call him an Indian, too?Eh! What's the matter? We're walking too fast. Stop a moment and rest.There--there, lean on me!"
She was none too soon; for, after holding him upright a moment, hislimbs failed, and stooping gently she was obliged to support him halfreclining against a tree.
"Its the heat!" he said. "Give me some whisky from my flask. Never mindthe water," he added faintly, with a forced laugh, after he had taken adraught at the strong spirit. "Tell me more about the other water--theSleeping Water--you know. How do you know all this about him andhis--father?"
"Partly from him and partly from Curson, who wrote to me about him," sheanswered with some hesitation.
But Dunn did not seem to notice this incongruity of correspondence witha former lover. "And HE told you?"
"Yes; and I saw the name on an old memorandum book he has, which he saysbelonged to his father. It's full of old accounts of some trading poston the frontier. It's been missing for a day or two, but it will turnup. But I can swear I saw it."
Dunn attempted to rise to his feet. "Put your hand in my pocket," hesaid in a hurried whisper. "No, there!--bring out a book. There, Ihaven't looked at it yet. Is that it?" he added, handing her the bookBrace had given him a few hours before.
"Yes," said Teresa, in surprise. "Where did you find it?"
"Never mind! Now let me see it, quick. Open it, for my sight is failing.There--thank you--that's all!"
"Take more whisky," said Teresa, with a strange anxiety creeping overher. "You are faint again."
/> "Wait! Listen, Teresa--lower--put your ear lower. Listen! I came nearkilling that chap Low to-day. Wouldn't it have been ridiculous?"
He tried to smile, but his head fell back. He had fainted.