CHAPTER XI
A TOUCH
The wrath of a man who is slow to anger cannot lightly be turned asideand, though Virginia drooped her lashes, the son of Honest John brushedpast her without a word. She had followed him gratuitously to DeathValley's cabin and seriously questioned his good faith; and then, to fanthe flames of his just resentment, she had suggested that he was tellingan untruth. He had told her--and it seemed impossible--that Blount hadoffered him half the Paymaster, on shares; but the following morning,without a word of warning, the Paymaster Mine shut down. The pumpsstopped abruptly, all the tools were removed, and as the foreman andminers who had been their boarders rolled up their beds and prepared todepart, the high-headed Virginia buried her face in her hands andretired to her bedroom to weep. And then to cap it all that miserableassayer sent in his belated report.
"Gold--a trace. Silver--blank. Copper--blank. Lead--blank. Zinc--blank."
The heavy white quartz which Wiley had made so much of was as barren asthe dirt in the street. It had absolutely no value and--oh, wretchedthought--he had offered to buy her stock out of charity! Out of thebigness of his heart--and then she had insulted him and accused him ofrobbing Death Valley Charley! In the light of this new day Death Valleywas a magnate, with his check for two hundred dollars, and Virginia andher mother must either starve on in silence or accept the bounty of theHolmans. It was maddening, unbelievable--and to think what he hadsuffered from her, before he had finally gone off in a rage. But howsarcastic he had been when she had accused him of robbing Charley, andof standing in with Blount! He had said things then which no woman couldforgive; no, not even if she were in the wrong. He had led her on tomake unconsidered statements, smiling provokingly all the time; andthen, when she had doubted that Blount had offered him the mine, he hadsaid, "Well, ask him!" and shut the door in her face! And now, withoutasking, the question had been answered, for Blount had closed down themine in despair and gone back to his bank in Vegas.
The Paymaster was dead, and Keno was dead; and their eight hundreddollars was gone. All the profits from the miners which they had countedupon so confidently had disappeared in a single day; and now her motherwould have to pawn her diamonds again in order to get out of town.Virginia paced up and down, debating the situation and seeking somepossible escape, but every door was closed. She could not appeal toWiley, for she knew her stock was worthless, and her hold on hissympathies was broken. He was a Yankee and cold, and his anger wascold--the kind that will not burn itself out. When he had loved her itwas different; there was a spark of human kindness to which she couldalways appeal; but now he was as cold and passionless as a statue; withhis jaws shut down like iron. She gave up and went out to see Charley.
Death Valley was celebrating his sudden rise to affluence by a resort tothe flowing bowl and when Virginia stepped in she found all threephonographs running and a two-gallon demijohn on the table. Death Valleyhimself was reposing in an armchair with one leg wrapped up in a whitebandage and as she stopped the grinding phonographs and made a grab forthe demijohn he held up two fingers reprovingly.
"I'm snake-bit," he croaked. "Don't take away my medicine. Do you wantyour Uncle Charley to die?"
"Why, Charley!" she cried, "you know you aren't snake-bit! Therattlesnakes are all holed up now."
"Yes--holed up," he nodded; "that's how I got snake-bit. It was fourteenyears ago, this month. Didn't you ever hear of my snake-mine--it was oneof the marvels of Arizona--a two-foot stratum of snakes. I used to hook'em out as fast as I needed them and try out the oil to cure rheumatism;but one day I dropped one and he bit me on the leg, and it's been badthat same month ever since. Would you like to see the bite? There's thepattern of a diamond-back just as plain as anything, so I know it musthave been a rattler."
He reached resolutely for the demijohn and took a hearty drink whereatVirginia sat down with a sigh.
"I'll tell you something," went on Charley confidentially. "Do you knowwhy a snake shakes its tail? It's generating electricity to shoot in thepisen, and the longer a rattlesnake rattles----"
"Oh, now, Charley," she begged, "can't you see I'm in trouble? Well,stop drinking and listen to what I say. You can help me a lot, if youwill."
"Who--me?" demanded Charley, and then he roused himself up and motionedfor a dipper of water. "Well, all right," he said, "I hate to kill thiswhiskey----" He drank in great gulps and made a wry face as he rose upand looked around.
"Where's Heine?" he demanded. "Here Heine, Heine!"
"You drove him under the house," answered Virginia petulantly, "playingall three phonographs at once. Really, it's awful, Charley, and you'dbetter look out or mother will give you the bounce."
"Scolding women--talking women," mused Charley drunkenly. "Well; what doyou want me to do?"
"I'm _not_ scolding!" denied Virginia, and then as he leered at hershe gave way weakly to tears. "Well, I can't help it," she wailed, "shescolds me all the time and--she simply drives me to it."
"They'll drive you crazy," murmured Charley philosophically. "There'snothing to do but hide out. But I must save the rest of that whiskey forthe Colonel."
He reached for the demijohn and corked it stoutly, after which he turnedto Virginia.
"Do you want some money?" he asked more kindly, bringing forth his rollas he spoke. "Well here, Virginny, there's one hundred dollars--it'snothing to your Uncle Charley. No, I got plenty more; and I'm going upthe Ube-Hebes just as soon as I find my burros. They must be over toCottonwood--there's lots of sand over there and Jinny, she's hell forrolling. No, take the money; I got it from Wiley Holman and he's gotplenty more."
He dropped it in her lap, but she jumped up hastily and put it back inhis hands.
"No, not that money," she said, "but listen to me, Charley; here's whatI want you to do. I've got some stock in the Paymaster Mine that Wileywas trying to buy; but now--oh, you saw how he treated me yesterday--hewouldn't take it, if he knew. But Charley, you take it; and the nexttime you see him--well, try to get ten cents a share. We want to goaway, Charley; because the mine is closed down and----"
"Yes, yes, Virginny," spoke up Death Valley, soothingly, "I'll get youthe money, right away."
"But don't you tell him!" she warned in a panic, "because----"
"You ought to be ashamed," said Charley reprovingly and went out to huntup his burros. Virginia lingered about, looking off across the desert atthe road down which Wiley had sped, and at last she bowed her head.Those last words of Charley's still rang in her ears and when, towardsevening, he started off down the road she watched him out of sight.
It was a long, dry road, this highway to Vegas, but twenty miles out, atGovernment Wells, there was water, and a good place to camp. Charleystopped there that night, and for three days more, until at last in thedistance he saw Wiley's white racer at the tip of a streamer of dust. Hewent by like the wind but when he spied Charley he slowed down andbacked up to his camp.
"Hel-lo there, Old Timer," he hailed in surprise, "what are you doing,away out here?"
"Oh, rambling around," responded Charley airily, waving his hand at theworld at large. "It's good for man to be alone, away from them scoldingwomen."
The shadow of a smile passed over Wiley's bronzed face and then hebecame suddenly grim.
"Bum scripture, Charley," he said, nodding shortly, "but you may beright, at that. What's the excitement around beautiful Keno?"
"I don't know," lied Charley. "Ain't been in town since you was there,but she was sure booming, then. Say, I've got some stock in thatPaymaster Mine that I might let you have, for cash. I'm burnt out on thetown--they's too many people in it--I'm going back to the Ube-Hebes."
"Well, take me along, then," suggested Wiley, "and we'll bring back acar-load of that gold. Maybe then I could buy your stock."
"No, you buy it now," went on Charley insistently. "I'm broke and I needthe money."
"Oh, you do, eh?" jested Wiley. "Still thinking about that wedding trip?Well, I may need that money myself."
r />
"Eh, heh, heh," laughed Charley, and drawing forth a package he began tountie the strings. "Eh, heh; yes, that's right; I've been watching youyoung folks for some time. But I'll sell you this stock of mine cheap."
He unrolled a cloth and flashed the certificates hopefully, but Wileydid not even look at them.
"Nope," he said, "no Paymaster for me. I wouldn't accent that stock as agift."
"But it's rich!" protested Charley, his eyes beginning to get wild."It's full of silver and gold. I can feel the electricity when I walkover the property--there's millions and millions, right there!"
"Oh, there is, eh?" observed Wiley, and, snatching away thecertificates, he ran them rapidly over. "Where'd you get these?" heasked, and Death Valley blinked, though he looked him straight in theeyes.
"Why, I--bought 'em," he faltered, "and--the Colonel gave me some.And----"
"How much do you want for them?" snapped Wiley, and Charley blinkedagain.
"Ten cents a share," he answered, and Wiley's stern face hardened.
"You take these back," he said, "and tell her I don't want 'em."
"Who--Virginny?" inquired Death Valley, and then he kicked his leg andlooked around for Heine.
"Now, here," spoke up Wiley, "don't go to slapping that dog. How much doyou want for the bunch?"
"Four hundred dollars!" barked Charley, and stood watchful and expectantas Wiley sat deep in thought.
"All right," he said, and as he wrote out the check Death Valleychuckled and leered at Heine.