XVII
LARRY'S PERIL
One afternoon several days later, Christopher Allonby drove over to CedarRange, and, though he endeavoured to hide his feelings, was evidentlydisconcerted when he discovered that Miss Schuyler and Hetty were alone.Torrance had affairs of moment on hand just then, and was absent fromCedar Range frequently.
"One could almost have fancied you were not pleased to see us, and wouldsooner have talked to Mr. Torrance," said Miss Schuyler.
The lad glanced at her reproachfully.
"Hetty knows how diffident I am, but it seems to me a lady with yourobservation should have seen the gratification I did not venture toexpress."
"It was not remarkably evident," said Miss Schuyler. "In fact, when youheard Mr. Torrance was not here I fancied I saw something else."
"I was thinking," said Allonby, "wondering how I could be honest and, atthe same time, complimentary to everybody. It was quite difficult. Peoplelike me generally think of the right thing afterwards, you see."
Hetty shook her head. "Sit down, and don't talk nonsense, Chris," shesaid. "You shouldn't think too much; when you're not accustomed to it, itisn't wise. What brought you?"
"I had a message for your father," said the lad, and Flora Schuylerfancied she saw once more the signs of embarrassment in his face.
"Then," said Hetty, "you can tell it me."
"There's a good deal of it, and it's just a little confusing," saidAllonby.
Flora Schuyler glanced at Hetty, and then smiled at the lad. "That iscertainly not complimentary," she said. "Don't you think Hetty and I couldremember anything that you can?"
Allonby laughed. "Of course you could. But, I had my instructions. I wastold to give Mr. Torrance the message as soon as I could, withouttroubling anybody."
"Then it is of moment?"
"Yes. That is, we want him to know, though there's really nothing in itthat need worry anybody."
"Then, it is unfortunate that my father is away," said Hetty.
Allonby sat silent a moment or two, apparently reflecting, and then lookedup suddenly, as though he had found the solution of the difficulty.
"I could write him."
Hetty laughed. "That was an inspiration! You can be positively brilliant,Chris. You will find paper and special envelopes in the office, as well asa big stick of sealing-wax."
Allonby, who appeared unable to find a neat rejoinder, went out; and whenhe left Flora Schuyler smiled as she saw the carefully fastened envelopelying on Torrance's desk, as well as something else. Torrance wasfastidiously neat, and the blotting pad from which the soiled sheets hadbeen removed bore the impress of Christopher Allonby's big, legiblewriting. It was, however, a little blurred, and Miss Schuyler, who had herscruples, made no attempt to read it then. It was the next afternoon, andTorrance had not yet returned, when a mounted man rode up to the Range,and was shown into the room where the girls sat together.
"Mr. Clavering will be kind of sorry Mr. Torrance wasn't here, but he hasgot it fixed quite straight," he said.
"What has he fixed?" said Hetty.
"Well," said the man, "your father knows, and I don't, though I've a kindof notion we are after one of the homestead-boys. Any way, what I had totell him was this. He could ride over to the Cedar Bluff at about six thisevening with two or three of the boys, if it suited him, but if it didn't,Mr. Clavering would put the thing through."
Hetty asked one or two leading questions, but the man had evidentlynothing more to tell, and when he went out, the two girls looked at oneanother in silence. Hetty's eyes were anxious and her face more colourlessthan usual.
"Flo," she said sharply, "are we thinking the same thing?"
"I don't know," said Miss Schuyler. "You have not told me your notionsyet. Still, this is clear to both of us, Mr. Clavering expects to meetsomebody at the Cedar Bluff, and your father is to bring two or three menwith him. The question is, what could they be wanted for?"
"No," said Hetty, with a little quiver in her voice, "it is who theyexpect to meet. You know what day this is?"
"Wednesday."
Once more there was silence for a few seconds, but the thoughts of the twogirls were unconcealed now, and when she spoke Hetty closed her hand.
"Think, Flo. There must be no uncertainty." Miss Schuyler slipped out ofthe room and when she came back she brought an envelope, splashed with redwax, on a blotting-pad.
"There's the key. All is fair--in war!" she said.
A pink tinge crept into Hetty's cheeks, and a sparkle into her eyes as shelooked at her companion.
"Don't make me angry with you, Flo," she said. "We can't read it."
"No?" said Miss Schuyler quietly, holding up the pad. "Now I think we can.This is another manifestation of the superiority of the masculine mind.Give me your hand-glass, Hetty."
"Of course," said Hetty, with a little gasp. "Still--it's horribly mean."
There was a slightly contemptuous hardness in Flora Schuyler's eyes. "Ifyou let the man who rides by the bluff on Wednesdays fall into Clavering'shands, it would be meaner still."
The next moment Hetty was out of the room, and Miss Schuyler sat down witha face that had grown suddenly weary. But it betrayed nothing when Hettycame back with the glass, and when she held up the blotter in hands thatwere perfectly steady, they read:
"I have fixed it with the Sheriff. Clavering's boys had, as you guessed,been watching for Larry on the wrong day; but now we have found out it isWednesday we'll make sure of him. If you care to come around to the bluffabout six that night, you will probably see us seize him; but if you wouldsooner stand out in this case, it wouldn't count. We don't expect anydifficulty."
Hetty flushed crimson. "Flo," she said, "it was the letter arranging hisown arrest he brought me back."
"That is not the point," said Miss Schuyler sharply. "What are you goingto do?"
Hetty laughed mockingly. "You and I are going to drive over to theNewcombes and stay the night. You get nervous when my father is away. Butwe are not going there quite straight; and you had better put your warmestthings on."
An hour later two of the best horses in Torrance's stable drew thelightest sleigh up to the door, and Miss Schuyler turned with a smile tothe remonstrating housekeeper.
"Nothing would induce me to stay here another night when Mr. Torrance wasaway," she said. "You can tell him that, if he is vexed with Hetty, andyou needn't worry. We will be safe at Mrs. Newcombe's before an hour isover."
The housekeeper shook her head. "I guess not. It's a league round by thebridge, and you couldn't find the other trail in the dark."
Miss Schuyler laughed. "Then, look at the time, and we'll let you knowwhen we get there," she said.
Hetty whipped the team, and with a whirling of dusty snow beneath therunners, they swept away. Both sat silent, until the beat of hoofs rangamidst the trees as they swept through the gloom of the big bluff at agallop, and Hetty laughed excitedly.
"Hold fast, Flo. You did that very well; but we have our alibi to prove,and are not going near the bridge," she said.
She flicked the horses, and the trees swept away behind them and the longwhite levels rolled back faster yet to the drumming hoofs. The rush ofcold wind stung Miss Schuyler's face like the lash of a whip, her eyesgrew hazy, and she held the furs about her as she swayed with the lurchingof the sleigh. Darkness was closing in when they came to the forking ofthe trail, and, with a little cry of warning, Hetty lashed the team. Thelurches grew sharper, and Miss Schuyler gasped now and then as she feltthe sleigh swing rocking down a long declivity. Scattered birches raced upout of it, and the hammering beat of hoofs swelled into a roar as itrolled along a thicker belt of trees.
They rose higher and higher, a dusky wall athwart the way, and MissSchuyler felt for a better hold for her feet, and grasped the big strappedrobe as she looked in vain for any opening. That team had done nothing formore than a week, and there was no stinting of oats and maize at Cedar.Hetty, however, did not attempt to hold them, b
ut sat swaying to thejolting, leaning forward as the shadowy barrier rushed up towards them,until, before she quite realized how they got there, Miss Schuyler foundherself hurled forward down what appeared to be a steadily sloping tunnel.Dim trees swept by and drooping boughs lashed at her. Now and then therewas a sharp crackling or a sickening lurch, and still they sped onfuriously, until a faint white shining appeared ahead.
"What is it?" she gasped.
"The river," said Hetty. "Hold fast! There's a piece like a toboggan-leapquite near."
She flung herself backwards as the lace-like birch twigs smote her furs;and when one of the horses stumbled Miss Schuyler with difficulty stifleda cry. The beast, however, picked up its stride again, there was a lurch,and the rocking sleigh appeared to leap clear of the snow. A crashfollowed, and they were flying out of the shadow again across a strip offaintly shining plain with another belt of dusky trees rolling backtowards them. Beyond them, low in the soft indigo, a pale star wasshining. Hetty glanced at it as she shook the reins, and once moresomething in her laugh stirred Miss Schuyler.
"I know when that star comes out," she said. "If Larry's only there we canwarn him and make our ride on time."
In another minute they were in among the trees, and Hetty, springing down,plodded through the loose snow at the horses' heads, urging them with handand voice up the incline which wound tortuously into the darkness. Now andthen, one of them stumbled, and there was a great trampling of hoofs, butthe girl's mittened hand never loosed its grasp; and it was with a littlebreathless run she clutched the sleigh and swung herself in when the teamswept out on the level again. Still, at least a minute had passed beforeshe had the horses in hand. The trail forked again somewhere in thedimness they were flashing through, and it was difficult to see the duskysmear at all.
A lurch that flung Miss Schuyler against her showed that Hetty had foundthe turning; and a little later, with a struggle, she checked the team,and they slid behind one of the low, rolling rises that seamed the prairiehere and there. There was no wind in the hollow behind it and a greatstillness under the high vault of blue studded with twinkling stars. Thedim whiteness of a long ridge cut sharply against it, and the palecolouring and frosty glitter conveyed the suggestion of pitiless cold.Flora Schuyler shivered, and drew the furs closer round her.
"Is this the place?" she asked.
"Yes," said Hetty, with a little gasp. "If we don't meet him here he willhave passed or gone by the other trail, and it will be too late to stophim. Can you hear anything, Flo?"
Miss Schuyler strained her ears, but, though the horses were walking now,she could hear nothing. The deep silence round them was emphasized by thesoft trample of the hoofs and thin jingle of steel that seemed unreal andout of place there in the wilderness of snow and stars.
"No," she said, in a strained voice; "I can hear nothing at all. It almostmakes one afraid to listen."
They drove slowly for a minute or two, and then Hetty pulled up the team."I can't go on, and it is worse to stand still," she said. "Flo, if hedidn't stop--and he wouldn't--they would shoot him. He must be coming.Listen. There's a horrible buzzing in my ears--I can't hear at all."
Miss Schuyler listened for what appeared an interminable time, andwondered afterwards that she had borne the tension without a sign. Thegreat stillness grew overwhelming now the team had stopped, and there wasthat in the utter cold and sense of desolation that weighed her couragedown. She felt her insignificance in the face of that vast emptiness anddestroying frost, and wondered at the rashness of herself and Hetty andLarry Grant who had ventured to believe they could make any change in thegreat inexorable scheme of which everything that was to be was part. MissSchuyler was not fanciful, but during the last hour she had borne a heavystrain, and the deathly stillness of the northwestern waste under theArctic frost is apt to leave its impress on the most unimaginative.
Suddenly very faint and far off, a rhythmic throbbing crept out of thedarkness, and Flora Schuyler, who, fearing her ears had deceived her atfirst, dared not speak, felt her chilled blood stir when Hetty flung backher head.
"Flo--can't you hear it? Tell me!"
Miss Schuyler nodded, for she could not trust her voice just then; but thesound had grown louder while she listened and now it seemed flung back bythe rise. Then, she lost it altogether as Hetty shook the reins and thesleigh went on again. In a few minutes, however, there was an answer tothe thud of hoofs, and another soft drumming that came quivering throughit sank and swelled again. By and by a clear, musical jingling broke in,and at last, when a moving object swung round a bend of the rise, a voicethat rang harsh and commanding reached them.
"Pull right up there, and wait until we see who you are," it said.
"Larry!" cried Hetty; and the second time her strained voice broke anddied away. "Larry!"
It was less than a minute later when a sleigh stopped close in front ofthem, and, leaving one man in it, Grant sprang stiffly down. It took Hettya minute or two more to make her warning plain, and Miss Schuyler found itnecessary to put in a word of amplification occasionally. Then, Grantsigned to the other man.
"Will you drive Miss Schuyler slowly in the direction she was going,Breckenridge?" he said. "Hetty, I want to talk to you, and can't keep youhere."
Hetty was too cold to reflect, and, almost before she knew how he hadaccomplished it, found herself in Grant's sleigh and the man piling therobes about her. When he wheeled the horses she was only conscious that hewas very close to her and that Breckenridge and Miss Schuyler were drivingslowly a little distance in front of them. Then, glancing up, as thoughunder compulsion, she saw that Grant was looking down upon her.
"It is not what I meant to tell you, but doesn't this remind you of oldtimes, Hetty?" he said.
"I don't want to remember them--and what have they to do with whatconcerns us now?" said the girl.
There was a new note in the man's voice that was almost exultant in itsquietness. "A good deal, I think. Hetty, if you hadn't driven so oftenbeside me here, would you have done what you have to-night?"
"No," said the girl tremulously.
"No," Grant said. "You have done a rash as well as a very generousthing."
"It was rash; but what could I do? We were, as you remind me, good friendsonce."
"Yes," he said. "I can't thank you, Hetty--thanks of any kind wouldn't beadequate--and there is nothing else I can offer to show my gratitude,because all I had was yours already. You have known that a long while,haven't you?"
The girl looked away from him. "I was not good enough to understand itsvalue at first, and when I did I tried to make you take it back."
"I couldn't," he said gently. "It was perhaps worth very little; but itwas all I had, and--since that day by the river--I never asked foranything in return. It was very hard not to now and then, but I saw thatyou had only kindness to spare for me."
"Then why do you talk of it again?"
"I think," said Grant very quietly, "it is different now. After to-nightnothing can be quite the same again. Hetty, dear, if you had missed me andI had ridden on to the bridge----"
"Stop!" said the girl with a shiver. "I dare not think of it. Larry, can'tyou see that just now you must not talk in that strain to me?"
"But there is a difference?" and Grant looked at her steadily.
For a moment the girl returned his gaze, her face showing very white inthe faint light flung up by the snow; but she sat very straight and still,and the man's passion suddenly fell from him.
"Yes," she said softly, "there is. I was only sure of it when I fancied Ihad missed you a few minutes ago; but that can't affect us, Larry. We canneither of us go back on those we belong to, and I know how mean I waswhen I tried to tempt you. You were staunch, and if I were less so, youwould not respect me."
Grant sighed. "You still believe your father right?"
"Yes," said Hetty. "I must hope so; and if he is wrong, I still belong tohim."
"But you can believe that I am right, too?"
"Yes," said Hetty simply. "I am, at least, certain you think you are.Still, it may be a long and bitter while before we see this troublethrough. I have done too much to-night--that is, had it been for anyonebut you--and you will not make my duty too hard for me."
Larry's pulses were throbbing furiously; but he had many times alreadychecked the passionate outbreak that he knew would have banished anypassing tenderness the girl had for him.
"No, my dear," he said. "But the trouble can't last for ever, and when itis over you will come to me? I have been waiting--even when I felt it washopeless--year after year for you."
Hetty smiled gravely. "Whether I shall ever be able to do that, Larry,neither you nor I can tell; but at least I shall never listen to anyoneelse. That is all I can promise; and we must go on, each of us doing whatis put before us, and hoping for the best."
Larry swept off his fur cap, and, stooping, kissed her on the cheek. "Itis the first time, Hetty. I will wait patiently for the next; but I shallsee you now and then?"
The girl showed as little sign of resentment as she did of passion. "If Imeet you; but that must come by chance," she said. "I want you to thinkthe best of me, and if the time should come, I know I would be proud ofyou. You have never done a mean thing since I knew you, Larry, and thatmeans a good deal now."
Grant pulled the team up in silence, and called to Breckenridge, whochecked his horses and getting down looked straight in front of him as hiscomrade handed Hetty into her sleigh. Then they stood still, sayingnothing while the team swept away.
Hetty was also silent, though she drove furiously, and Flora Schuyler didnot consider it advisable to ask any questions, while the rush of icy windand rocking of the sleigh afforded scanty opportunity for conversation.She was also very cold, and greatly relieved, when a blink of light roseout of the snow. Five minutes later somebody handed her out of the sleigh,and she saw a man glance at the team.
"You have been sending them along. Was it you or Hetty who drove, MissSchuyler?" he said.
Flora Schuyler laughed. "Hetty, of course; but I want you to remember whenwe came in," she said, mentioning when they left Cedar. "I told Mrs.Ashley we would get here inside an hour, and she wouldn't believe me."
"If anyone wants to know when you came in, send them to me," said the man."There are not many horses that could have made it in the time."