XXII
THE CAVALRY OFFICER
The winter was relaxing its iron grip at last and there were alternationsof snow and thaw and frost when one evening a few of his scatteredneighbours assembled at Allonby's ranch. Clavering was there, withTorrance, Hetty, and Miss Schuyler, among the rest; but though the guestsmade a spirited attempt to appear unconcerned, the signs of care wereplainer in their faces than when they last met, and there were times whenthe witty sally fell curiously flat. The strain was beginning to tell, andeven the most optimistic realized that the legislature of the State wasmore inclined to resent than yield to any further pressure that could beexerted by the cattle-barons. The latter were, however, proud and stubbornmen, who had unostentatiously directed affairs so long that they found itdifficult to grasp the fact that their ascendancy was vanishing. Showing abold front still, they stubbornly disputed possession of every acre ofland the homesteaders laid claim upon. The latters' patience was almostgone, and the more fiery spirits were commencing to obstruct theirleader's schemes by individual retaliation and occasionally purposelessaggression.
Torrance seemed older and grimmer, his daughter paler, and there weremoments when anxiety was apparent even in Clavering's usually carelessface. He at least, was already feeling the pinch of straitened finances,and his only consolations were the increasing confidence that Torrancereposed in him, and Hetty's graciousness since his capture by thehomesteaders. It was, perhaps, not astonishing that he should mistake itsmeaning, for he had no means of knowing, as Miss Schuyler did, that thecattle-baron's daughter met Larry Grant now and then.
Hetty was sitting in a corner of the big room, with Flo Schuyler andChristopher Allonby close at hand, and during a lull in the conversationshe turned to him with a smile.
"You find us a little dull to-night, Chris?" she said.
Allonby laughed. "There was a time when you delighted in trapping me intoadmissions of that kind, but I'm growing wise," he said. "In fact, anotheryear like this one would make an old man of me. I don't mind admittingthat there is something wrong with the rest. I have told them the storiesthey have laughed over the last three years, and could not raise a smilefrom one of them; and when I got my uncle started playing cards I actuallybelieve your father forgot what trumps were, for the first time in hislife!"
"That is significant," said Hetty, whose face had grown serious. "Nothinghas gone well for us lately, Chris."
Allonby sighed. "We don't like to acknowledge it, but it's a fact," hesaid. "Still, there's hope yet, if we can just stir up the homestead-boysinto wrecking a railroad bridge or burning somebody's ranch."
"It is a little difficult to understand how that would improve affairs,especially for the man whose place was burned," said Miss Schuyler drily.
"One can't afford to be too particular," said Allonby, with a deprecatinggesture. "You see, once they started in to do that kind of thing the Statewould have to crush them, which, of course, would suit us quite nicely. Asit is, after the last affair at Hamlin's, they have sent in a draft ofcavalry."
"And you are naturally taking steps to bring about the things that wouldsuit you?" asked Flora Schuyler.
Allonby did not see the snare. "Well," he said, "I am not an admirer ofClavering, but I'm willing to admit that he has done everything he could;in fact, I'm 'most astonished they have stood him so long, and I don'tthink they would have done so, but for Larry. Anyway, it's comforting toknow Larry is rapidly making himself unpopular among them."
A spot of colour showed in Hetty's cheek, and there was a little gleam inFlora Schuyler's eyes as she fixed them on the lad.
"You evidently consider Mr. Grant is taking an unwarranted liberty inpersuading his friends to behave themselves as lawful citizens should?"she said.
"I don't quite think you understand me, of course, one could scarcelyexpect it from a lady; but if you look at the thing from our point ofview, it's quite easy."
Flora Schuyler smiled satirically. "I fancy I do, though I may bemistaken. Subtleties of this kind are, as you suggest, beyond the averagewoman."
"You are laughing at me, and it's quite likely I deserve it. We will talkof something else. I was telling you about the cavalry officer."
"No," said Hetty, "I don't think you were."
"Then I meant to. He has just come up from the Apache country--a kind ofquiet man, with a good deal in him and a way of making you listen when youonce start him talking. We half expect him here this evening, and if hecomes, I want you to be nice to him. You could make him believe we are inthe right quite easily."
"From the Apache country?" and Flora Schuyler glanced at Hetty.
Allonby nodded. "New Mexico, Arizona, or somewhere there. Now, just whenyou were beginning to listen, there's Mr. Torrance wanting me."
He rose with evident reluctance, and Miss Schuyler sat reflectively silentwhen he moved away.
"What are you thinking of?" asked Hetty sharply.
"That the United States is not after all such a very big country. One isapt to run across a friend everywhere."
Hetty did not answer, but Miss Schuyler knew that she was also wonderingabout the cavalry officer, when half an hour later it became evident, fromthe sounds outside, that a sleigh had reached the door, and when a littlefurther time had passed Allonby ushered a man in blue uniform into theroom. Hetty set her lips when she saw him.
"Oh!" said Miss Schuyler. "I felt quite sure of it. This is the kind ofthing that not infrequently happens, and it is only the natural sequencethat he should turn up on the opposite side to Larry."
"Flo," said Hetty sharply, "what do you mean?"
"Well," she said lazily, "I fancy that you should know better than I do. Ihave only my suspicions and some little knowledge of human nature to guideme. Now, of course, you convinced us that you didn't care for Cheyne, butwe have only your word to go upon in regard to Larry."
Hetty turned upon her with a flash in her eyes. "Don't try to make meangry, Flo. It's going to be difficult to meet him as it is."
"I don't think you need worry," and Flora Schuyler laughed. "He isprobably cured by this time, and has found somebody else. They usually do.That ought to please you."
In the meantime, Allonby and the man he was presenting to his friends weredrawing nearer. Hetty rose when the pair stopped in front of them.
"Captain Jackson Cheyne, who is coming to help us. Miss Torrance and MissSchuyler, the daughter and guest of our leader," said Allonby, and thesoldierly man with the quiet, brown face, smiling, held out his hand.
"We are friends already," he said, and passed on with Allonby.
"Was it very dreadful, Hetty?" said Flora Schuyler. "I could see he meansto come back and talk to you."
Hetty also fancied Cheyne wished to do so, and spent the next hour or twoin avoiding the encounter. With this purpose she contrived to draw ChrisAllonby into one of the smaller rooms where the card-tables were thenuntenanted, and listened with becoming patience to stories she had oftenheard before. She, however, found it a little difficult to laugh at theright places, and at last the lad glanced reproachfully at her.
"It spoils everything when one has to show you where the point is," hesaid; and Hetty, looking up, saw Cheyne and Flora Schuyler in thedoorway.
"Miss Newcombe is looking for you, Mr. Allonby," said the latter.
There was very little approval in the glance Hetty bestowed upon MissSchuyler and Allonby seemed to understand it.
"She generally is, and that is why I'm here," he said. "I don't feel likehearing about any more lepidoptera to-night, and you can take her CaptainCheyne instead. He must have found out quite a lot about beetles and otherthings that bite you down in Arizona."
Miss Schuyler, disregarding Hetty, laughed. "You had better go," she said."I see her coming in this direction now, and she has something whichapparently contains specimens in her hand."
Allonby fled, but he turned a moment in the doorway. "Do you think youcould get me a real lively tarantula, Captain Cheyne?" he said.
"If ayoung lady with a preoccupied manner asks you anything about insects, tellher you have one in your pocket. It's the only thing that will save you."
He vanished with Miss Schuyler, and Hetty, somewhat against her wishes,found herself alone with Cheyne. He was deeply sunburned, and his facethinner than it had been, but the quiet smile she had once found pleasurein was still in his eyes.
"Your young friend did his best, and I am half afraid he had a hint," hesaid.
Hetty blushed. "I am very pleased to see you," she said hastily. "How didyou like New Mexico?"
"As well as I expected," Cheyne answered with a dry smile. "It is notexactly an enchanting place--deformed mountains, sun glare, adobe houses,loneliness, and dust. My chief trouble, however, was that I had too muchtime to think."
"But you must have seen somebody and had something to do."
"Yes," Cheyne admitted. "There was a mining fellow who used to come overand clean out my whiskey, and sing gruesome songs for hours together to abanjo that had, I think, two strings. I stayed out all night quitefrequently when I had reason to believe that he was coming. Then, wekilled a good many tarantulas--and a few equally venomous pests--but whenall was done it left one hours to sit staring at the sage-brush and wonderwhether one would ever shake off the dreariness of it again."
"It must have been horribly lonely," Hetty said.
"Well," said Cheyne, very slowly, "there was just one faint hope that nowand then brightened everything for me. I thought you might change. PerhapsI was foolish--but that hope would have meant so much to me. I could notlet it go."
Hetty turned and looked at him with a softness in her eyes, for the littletremor in his voice had touched her.
"And I was hoping you had forgotten," she said.
"No," said Cheyne quietly. "I don't think I ever shall. You haven't agrain of comfort to offer me?"
Hetty shook her head, and involuntarily one hand went up and rested amoment on something that lay beneath the laces at her neck. "No," shesaid. "I am ever so sorry, Jake, but I have nothing whatever to offeryou--now."
"Then," said Cheyne, with a little gesture of resignation, "I suppose itcan be borne because it must be--and I think I understand. I know he mustbe a good man--or you would never have cared for him."
Hetty looked at him steadily, but the colour that had crept into her cheekspread to her forehead. "Jake," she said, "no doubt there are more, but Ihave met two Americans who are, I think, without reproach. I shall alwaysbe glad I knew them--and it is not your fault that you are not the rightone."
Cheyne made her a little grave inclination. "Then, I hope we shall be goodfriends when I meet the other one. I am going to stay some little time inthe cattle country."
"I almost hope you will not meet just yet," Hetty said anxiously, "and youmust never mention what I have told you to anybody."
"You have only told me that I was one of two good Americans," said Cheyne,with a quiet smile which the girl found reassuring. "Now, you don't wantto send me away?"
"No," said Hetty. "It is so long since I have seen you. You have come tohelp us against our enemies?"
Cheyne saw the girl's intention, and was glad to fall in with it, but hebetrayed a little embarrassment. "Not exactly, though I should be contentif my duty amounts to the same thing," he said. "We have been sent in tohelp to restore order, and it is my business just now to inquire into thedoings of a certain Larry Grant. I wonder if you could tell me anythingabout him?"
He noticed the sudden intentness of Hetty's face, though it was gone in aninstant.
"What have you found out?" she asked.
"Very little that one could rely upon. Everybody I ask tells me somethingdifferent, he seems a compound of the qualities of Coleman the Vigilante,our first President, and the notorious James boys. As they were gentlemenof quite different character, it seems to me that some of my informantsare either prejudiced or mistaken."
"Yes," said Hetty. "He is like none of them. Larry is just a plainAmerican who is fearlessly trying to do what he feels is right, though itis costing him a good deal. You see, I met him quite often before thetrouble began."
Cheyne glanced at her sharply, but Hetty met his gaze. "I don't know," heanswered, "that one could say much more of any man."
Just then Flora Schuyler and Miss Allonby came in. "Hetty," said thelatter, "everybody is waiting for you to sing."
In the meanwhile, Allonby and his nephew sat with Torrance and Clavering,and one or two of the older men, in his office room. Clavering had justfinished speaking when Allonby answered Torrance's questioning glance.
"I have no use for beating round the bush," he said. "Dollars are gettingscarce with me, and, like some of my neighbours, I had to sell out a draftof stock. The fact that I'm throwing them on the market now issignificant."
One of the men nodded. "Allonby has put it straight," he said. "I was overfixing things with the station agent, and he is going to send the firstdrafts through to Omaha in one lot if two of his biggest locomotives canhaul the cars. Still, if Clavering has got hold of the right story, howthe devil did the homestead-boys hear of it?"
Clavering glanced at Torrance with a little sardonic smile on his lips. "Idon't quite know, but a good many of our secrets have been leaking out."
"You're quite sure you are right, Clavering?" somebody asked.
"Yes. The information is worth the fifty dollars I paid for it. Thehomestead-boys mean to run that stock train through the Bitter Creekbridge. As you know, it's a good big trestle, and it is scarcely likely wewould get a head of stock out of the wreck alive."
There were angry ejaculations and the faces round the table grew set andstern. Some of the men had seen what happens when a heavy train goesthrough a railroad trestle.
"It's devilish!" said Allonby. "Larry is in the thing?"
"Well," said Clavering drily, "it appears the boys can't do anythingunless they have an order from their executive, and the man who told medeclared he had seen one signed by him. Still, one has to be fair toLarry, and it is quite likely some of the foreign Reds drove him into it.Any way, if we could get that paper--and I think I can--it would fix theaffair on him."
Torrance nodded. "Now we have the cavalry here, it would be enough to havehim shot," he said. "Well, this is going to suit us. But there must be nofooling. We want to lay hands upon them when they are at work on thetrestle."
The other men seemed doubtful, and Allonby made a protest. "It is by nomeans plain how it's going to suit me to have my steers run through thebridge," he said. "I can't afford it."
Clavering laughed. "You will not lose one of them," he said. "Now, don'task any questions, but listen to me."
There were objections to the scheme he suggested, but he won over the menwho raised them, and when all had been arranged and Allonby had gone backto his other guests, Clavering appeared satisfied and Torrance very grim.Unfortunately, however, they had not bound Christopher Allonby to silence,and when he contrived to find a place near Miss Schuyler and Hetty hecould not refrain from mentioning what he had heard. This was, however,the less astonishing since the cattle-barons' wives and daughters sharedtheir anxieties and were conversant with most of what happened.
"You have a kind of belief in the homestead-boys, Hetty?" he said.
"Yes, but everybody knows who I belong to."
"Of course! Well, I guess you are not going to have any kind of belief inthem now. They're planning to run our big stock train through the BitterCreek bridge."
Hetty turned white. "They would never do that. Their leaders would not letthem."
"No?" said Allonby. "I'm sorry to mention it, but it seems they haveLarry's order."
A little flush crept into Flora Schuyler's face, but Hetty's grew stillmore colourless and her dark eyes glowed. Then she shook her shoulders,and said with a scornful quietness, "Larry would not have a hand in it tosave his life. There is not a semblance of truth in that story, Chris."
Allonby glanced up in astonishment, but he was youthful, an
d that Hettycould have more than a casual interest in her old companion appearedimprobable to him.
"It is quite a long time since you and Larry were on good terms, and nodoubt he has changed," he said. "Any way, his friends are going to trygiant powder on the bridge, and if we are fortunate Cheyne will get thewhole of them, and Larry, too. Now, we'll change the topic, since it doesnot seem to please you."
He changed it several times, but his companions, though they sat and evensmiled now and then, heard very few of his remarks.
"I'm going," he said at last, reproachfully. "I am sorry if I have boredyou, but it is really quite difficult to talk to people who are thinkingabout another thing. It seems to me you are both in love with somebody,and it very clearly isn't me."
He moved away, and for a moment Hetty and Miss Schuyler did not look atone another. Then Hetty stood up.
"I should have screamed if he had stayed any longer," she said. "The thingis just too horrible--but it is quite certain Larry does not know. I havegot to tell him somehow. Think, Flo."