CHAPTER XXII
NEAL TAGGART VISITS
When a little later Betty heard hoof-beats in the ranchhouse yard--thesounds of a horseman making a leisurely approach--she left the door andwent out upon the porch.
She knew who the horseman was; she had seen him from the window of herroom when she had gone upstairs to get the money for Calumet. Morethan once she had seen the sheriff coming over the hill--the same hillupon which Calumet and Neal Taggart had fought their duel--and sherecognized the familiar figure. On his previous visits to theranchhouse, however, Toban had left his horse in the timber clump nearthe house. She was not surprised, though, to hear him coming into theranchhouse yard tonight, for his errand now was different.
Toban had evidently intended to hitch his pony to the corral fence, forit was toward it that he was directing the animal, when he caught sightof Betty on the porch and rode up beside her.
"What's up?" he inquired, leaning over in the saddle and peeringclosely at her; "you look flustered. Where's Marston?"
"Gone," she told him.
He straightened. "Gone where?" he demanded.
"Away--forever," she said weakly. "He heard you were after himfor--for killing that man Sharp--and he left."
Toban cursed. "So he got wind of it, did he? The Taggarts must havegassed about it. Marston told you, did he? Why didn't you keep himhere? He didn't kill Sharp!"
"I know it," she said; "he told me he didn't, and I believed him. Hesaid you had a warrant for his arrest; that you were coming for him,and I was afraid that if you met him out on the range somewhere therewould be shooting. I knew if I could keep him here until you came youwould be able to fix it up some way--to prove his innocence. I was soglad, when I ran upstairs to get some money for him and looked out ofthe window. For you were coming. But he wouldn't stay."
Toban dismounted and stood in front of her, his eyes probing into hers."I've got evidence that he didn't kill Sharp," he said; "I saw thewhole deal. But I reckon," he added, a subtle gleam in his eyes, "thatit's just as well that he's gone--he was a heap of trouble while he washere, anyway, wasn't he?"
"No," she said quickly, defiantly; "he--" She broke off and looked athim with wide eyes. "Oh," she said with a quavering laugh; "you arepoking fun at me. You liked him, too; you told me you did!"
"I reckon I like him," said Toban, his lips grimming; "I like him wellenough not to let him pull his freight on account of the Taggarts.Why, damn it!" he added explosively; "I was his father's friend, an' Iain't seein' him lose everything he's got here when he's innocent.Which way did he go?"
There was a wild hope in her eyes; she was breathing fast. "Oh," shesaid; "are you going after him? He went to the Arrow--first. He toldme he was going to kill the Taggarts. Then he is going to get out ofthe Territory. Oh, Toban, catch him--please! I--"
Toban laughed. "I ain't been blind, girl," he said; "the talks I'vehad with you in old Marston's office have wised me up to how thingsstand between you an' him. I'll ketch him, don't worry about that.That black horse of his is some horse, but he ain't got nothin' on myold dust-thrower, an' I reckon that in fifteen miles--"
He was climbing into the saddle while talking, and at his last word hegave the spurs to his horse, a strong, clean-limbed bay, and was awayin a cloud of dust.
Betty watched him, her hands clasped over her breast, her body rigidand tense, her eyes straining, until she saw him vanish around the bendin the trail; and then for a long time she stood on the porch, scanningthe distant horizon, in the hope that she might again see Toban and beassured that nothing had happened to him. And when at last she saw aspeck moving swiftly along a distant rise, she murmured a prayer andwent into the house.
When she closed the kitchen door and stood against it, looking aroundthe room, she was afflicted with a depressing sense of loss, and sherealized fully how Calumet had grown into her life, and what it wouldmean to her if she lost him. He had been mean, cruel, and vicious, buthe had awakened at last to a sense of his shortcomings; he was like aboy who had had no training, who had grown wild and ungovernable, butwho, before it had become too late, had awakened to the futility, theabsurdity, the falseness of it all, and was determined to begin anew.And she felt--as she had felt all along--even when she had seen him athis worst--that she must mother him, must help him to build up a newstructure of self, must lift him, must give him what the world had sofar denied him--his chance. And she sat at the table and leaned herhead in her arms and prayed that Toban might overtake him before hereached the Arrow. For she did not want him to come back to her withthe stain of their blood on his hands.
She was startled while sitting at the table, for she heard a sound fromthe sitting-room, and she got up to investigate. But it was only Bob,who, hearing the sounds made by Toban and herself, had come toinvestigate. She urged him to return to his room and to bed, andkissed him when he started up the stairs, so warmly that he looked ather in surprise.
She returned to the kitchen, sitting at the table and watching theclock. A half hour had elapsed since Toban's departure when she heardthe faint beat of hoofs in the distance, and with wildly beating heartgot up and went out on the porch.
For a moment she could not determine the direction from which thesounds came, but presently she saw a rider approaching from thedirection of the river, and she stepped down from the porch andadvanced to meet him. She feared at first that it was Toban returningalone, and she halted and stood with clenched hands, but as the ridercame closer she saw it was not Toban but an entire stranger. Sheretreated to the porch and watched his approach.
He was a cowboy and he rode up to the edge of the porch confidently,calling to her when he came close enough to make himself heard.
"My name's Miller," he said, taking his hat off and showing her theface of a man of thirty--"Harvey Miller. Me an' my side-kicker wasdrivin' a bunch of Three Bar beeves to Lazette an' we was fools enoughto run afoul of that quicksand at Double Fork, about five miles downthe crick. We've bogged down about forty head an' I've come for help.You got any men around here?"
"Oh," she said; "how careless you were! Didn't you know the quicksandwas there?"
"I ain't been runnin' this range a whole lot," said the puncheruneasily; "but I reckon even then I ought to be able to nose out aquicksand. But I didn't, an' there's forty beeves that's goin' tocow-heaven pretty soon if somethin' ain't done. If you've got any menaround here which could give us a lift, we'd be pleased to thank you."
"Of course," she said. "Wait!"
She went into the house and to the stairs where she called to Dade andMalcolm, and presently, rubbing their eyes, the two came down. Theywere eager to assist the puncher in his trouble and without delay theycaught up the two horses that Calumet had bought soon after his comingto the ranch, saddled and bridled them and rode out of the yard.
The unfortunate puncher did not wait for them. When they had announcedtheir intention of helping him, he had told them that he would ride onahead to help his partner, leaving them to follow as soon as they could.
"I reckon you know where it is," was his parting word to them. "DoubleFork. I reckon I'll know it again when I see it," he added, grimlyjoking.
Betty watched Dade and Malcolm as they rode away. From the porch shecould follow their movements until they traveled about a mile of thedistance toward Double Fork. She saw them vanish into the wood, andwhen she could see them no longer she turned and went into the house.
She went to the chair in which she had previously been sitting, restingher arms on the table, but she was too nervous, too excited, to sit andshe presently got up and stood, looking anxiously at the face of theclock on a shelf in a corner.
Toban had been gone a full hour, and she wondered if by this time hehad overtaken Calumet, or whether Calumet was racing ahead of him onhis way to execute vengeance upon the Taggarts. She was praying mutelythat Toban might overtake him before this could happen when she heard aslight sound behind her and turned swiftl
y to see Neal Taggart standingin the doorway, grinning at her.
The room darkened before her eyes as she swayed weakly and caught atthe table to support herself, and when she finally regained control ofherself she forced herself to stand erect. There was a great fear inher heart, but she fought it down and faced Taggart with some semblanceof dignity and composure.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded; "what do you want?"
Taggart's face wore an evil smile. Before answering her he fastenedthe door behind him, left it and went to the sitting-room door, peeredquickly into the room and swung the door shut, barring it. Betty stoodbeside the table, watching him with a sort of fascination, a littlecolor now in her face, though she lacked the power to speak or tointerfere with Taggart's movements.
When he had barred the sitting-room door he came and stood beside thetable, and there was a repulsive, insulting leer on his face as helooked down at her.
"Do you know what I came here for?" he said.
"No," she answered.
He reached out suddenly and grasped her hands, pulling her roughly overto him. She gave a startled cry and then stood silent before him,slender and white, a subdued little figure dwarfed by his huge bulk,seemingly helpless.
"I'll tell you," he said, the strange hoarseness of deep passion in hisvoice. "Me an' my dad are leavin' the country tonight. We sold theArrow today, an' by this time tomorrow we'll be among the missin' inthis section of the country. But there's some things to be done beforewe pull our freight. You think you've been damned slick about theidol--you an' that mule-kickin' shorthorn, Calumet Marston! But we'vefooled you," he continued with a short, ugly laugh; "fooled you clean!Mebbe you know this, an' mebbe you don't. But I'm tellin' you. We setTelza, the Toltec, an' Sharp to get the diagram of the place where theidol is. They didn't get it because the clearin' ain't dug up any.Telza knifed Sharp an' he's sloped, likely figgerin' that this countryain't healthy for him any more. You've got the diagram an' I want it.I'm goin' to get it if I have to kill you to get it! Understand!
"You've got no chance," he sneered, as she looked around the roomfurtively, hopelessly. "We framed up a murder charge on Calumet andwe've been in the timber since dark waitin' for the sheriff to come an'get him. We saw him hit the breeze toward the Arrow, an' we saw thesheriff go after him. Neither of them can be back here for hours yet,an' when they do get back I'll have done what I've set out to do."
He laughed again, harshly, triumphantly. "Dade an' Malcolm botheredme a bit until I thought of sendin' Harvey Miller here with that fairytale about the forty beeves bogged down in Double Fork, but I reckonnow--"
She gasped, comprehending the trap he had set for her, and his grip onher hands tightened.
"Dade an' Malcolm can't get back for an hour yet," he gloated, "an' bythat time we'll be miles away." His voice changed from mockery tosavage determination. "I want that diagram, an' I want it right now,or I'll tear you to pieces. Do you understand? I'll beat you up so'syour own mother wouldn't know you." His grip tightened on her arms,they were twisted until she screamed with agony.
In this extremity her thoughts went to Calumet; she remembered vividlywhat he had said about the idol when she had asked him why he did notget it and convert it into cash. "I ain't so much stuck on monkeyin'with them religious things," he had said. And she was certain that ifCalumet knew of her danger he would not have had her hesitate aninstant in relinquishing the diagram to Taggart.
The idol had brought him nothing but evil, anyway, and she was certainthat Calumet would not mourn its loss, even if Taggart were to be thegainer by it, if its possession were to entail punishment, death,perhaps, to her.
"Wait!" she cried as Taggart gave her arms an extra vicious twitch;"you may have it!"
He released her with a greedy, satisfied grin and stood crouching andalert while she turned her back to him and fumbled in her bodice, whereshe had kept the diagram since the discovery of its former hiding placeby Telza.
She turned presently and gave him the paper, and he seized it eagerlyand examined it, gloating over it.
"That's it," he said; "that's the clearing!"
She was holding her arms, where he had squeezed them, her face flushedwith rage at the indignity he had offered her. She stood rigid,defiant.
"If that is all you came for, you may go," she said; "go instantly!"
He jammed the paper into his pocket and grinned at her.
"It ain't all," he said. "I owe you somethin' for the way you'vetreated me. I'm goin' to pay it. You've been too much of a lady totalk to me, but you'll live here with that--"
He reached suddenly out and seized her hands again, attempting to throwan arm around her. She evaded the arm and wrenched herself free,slipping past him and darting to the other side of the table. He stoodopposite her, his hands on the table as he leaned toward her, grinningat her, brutally and bestially, and pausing so as to prolong hisenjoyment of her predicament.
"I'll get you, damn you!" he said; "I've got the time and you can't getout." He seized the kerosene lamp on the table and walking backward,placed it on a shelf at the side of the wall near the stove. Then witha chuckle of satisfaction and mockery he again went to the tableseizing its edge in his hands and shoving it against her so that shewas forced to retreat from its advance.
She divined instantly that he intended to force her against one of thewalls and thus corner her, and she opposed her strength to his, pushingwith all her power against the table in an effort to retard its advance.
It was to no purpose, for he was a strong man and his passions werearoused, and in spite of her brave struggle the table continued to moveand she to retreat before it.
"Oh!" she said, in a panic of fear and dread, her face flushed, hereyes wide and bright, her breath coming in great panting sobs; "Oh! youbeast! You beast!"
He did not answer. His eyes were burning with a wanton fire, theyglowed with the fierce, fell purpose of animal desire; he breathedshrilly, rapidly, gaspingly, though the strength that he had beencompelled to use to overmatch hers had not been great.
She did not succeed in retarding the advance of the table, but she didsucceed in directing its course a little, so that instead of backingher against the wall, as he no doubt intended to do, she brought upfinally against the stove in the corner.
There was a fire in the stove--she had kept it going to keep Calumet'ssupper warm--and when she felt her body against it she reached aroundand secured a flat iron. The handle burned her hand, but she lifted itand hurled it with all her force at his head. He dodged, laughingderisively. She seized another and threw it, and this he dodged also.She was reaching for the teakettle when he shoved the table aside andlunged at her, and she dropped the kettle with a scream of horror andslipped around the stove to the wall near the sitting-room door,reaching the latter and trying frantically to unbar it.
She heard Bob's voice on the other side of the door; he was calling,"Betty! Betty!" in shrill, scared accents, and when Taggart leaped ather, seizing her by the shoulders as she worked with the fastenings ofthe door, she screamed to Bob to get the rifle from Malcolm's room,directing him to go out the front way, go around to the kitchen andshoot Taggart through one of the windows.
How long she struggled with Taggart there by the door she did not know.It might have been an hour or merely a minute. But she fought him,clawing at his face with her hands, biting him, kicking him. And sheremembered that he was getting the better of her, that his breath wasin her face and that he was dragging her toward the lamp on the shelf,evidently intending to extinguish it--that he had almost reached it,was, indeed, reaching a hand out to grasp it, when there came a flashfrom the window, the crash of breaking glass, and the roar of anexploding firearm.
She also remembered thinking that Bob had taken a desperate chance inshooting at Taggart when she was so close to him, and she had a vividrecollection of Taggart releasing her and staggering back withoututtering a sound. She caught a glimpse of his face as
he sank to thefloor; there was a gaping hole in his forehead and his eyes were setand staring with an expression of awful horror and astonishment. Thenthe kitchen darkened, she felt the floor rising to meet her, and sheknew no more.