CHAPTER VIII.
THE GOLD GRABBERS.
The Cherokee and his young friend had barely vanished from the defilebefore some twenty men rushed in upon Miss Maclan. They had lefther in a growing trepidation lest she had committed a great blunderin not sharing their flight. The newcomers were on horse and afoot.In this rugged way, expert footmen could keep pace with the riders.The principal was a tall, thin man, about fifty, rather bowed thanstraight; his tawny hair fell in locks thickly upon his shoulders inthe style of the adopters of the Indian fashion; his face was bloodlessin the third part not hidden by a red beard; as a guard against snowblindness, he wore green goggles, which gave him the air of a studentor professor on a most guileless scientific enterprise. Spite of this,he was the Western desperado who had taken the notorious name of"Captain Kidd," that of the most ferocious pirate known on the Atlanticcoast in the 18th century. He had already seen Sol Garrod inanimate,and the view of Old Cormick, a much more prized member of his band,doubled the malignity of his scowl. Nevertheless, he was surprised intosome courtesy on seeing nobody but the young lady, for he removed hisfur cap a little, and faltered:
"Who are you? This is never your work, is it?" pointing to the deadbandit. "Oh, I see," he went on, quickly. "The rogues quarrelled overthe plum, and they would have deprived their captain of his option toredeem it at the band's estimation."
"Sir," said she haughtily, "you are right to call them rogues; theyprofessed no great respect for me, and they have been punished for itby men who, on the contrary, have acted like honourable gentlemen."
"That will do. This is no time or place for such pages out of the Bookof Elocution! What is it, my boys?" as his men returned quickly fromthe track of the horses.
An uproar in the woods, where the flyers burst through the Indians,enlightened them on the danger of prosecuting their researches too far.
"Our red brother!" he exclaimed, jestingly. "You'd better fall backbefore he extends the tomahawk of friendship."
"But the slayers of our mates and stealers of their horses are notIndians," added a scout who most recently came in.
"Never mind. Return to camp. Neither in the sky or along the land nowis the lookout serene, and we shall meet any mishap better there. Twoof you take care of that saucebox. Hang me if she be not, though fairas a lily, as pert and disdainful as a Mexican."
Lighting a cigar, he rode back, meditatively smoking, among his sullenand apprehensive men, without appearing to remember he had made aprisoner.
They were not the kind of characters to whom a young lady's protectionshould have been confided. On the contrary, their dissipated faces,truculent carriage, and noisy talk, proclaimed them the scum of thedross of the mining camp. Not worthy the name of gold seeker, theydeserved that of horse thief, secret stabber, and "gold grabber."
For her part, Ulla was overcome by violent emotions, after the briefhope of being free of persecution. The persistent devotion of Mr.Dearborn impressed her. Others who may have escaped apparently lookedto their own safety, but he had armed himself merely to follow hersteps and seek to deliver her against any odds. She ruefully reviewedthe events during which she had passed through hope, fear, and pain,till plunged into a despair greater than any since her father's death.On marking the number of her escort, and their villainous visages androbust physique, she saw little possibility of her only friend, howeverenergetic his new associate, to save her from a miserable fate.
The retreating bandits did not seem to draw the Indians after them.There was no event on the way, and the watch at their camp had none toreport.
The adventurers' "fort" presented a semicircle, the horns restingon marshland and on an inaccessible ravine respectively. It had animprovised musket battery gun, such as Prince Maurice of Hollandinvented years ago, and modern armourers have perfected and adornedwith their generally unpronounceable names. Its rows of barrels, twodeep, could be fired simultaneously, and a light, strong, broad-wheeledcarriage allowed it to be quickly shifted in position. It defended theonly breach in a barricade of pickets. But it was evident the goldseekers were fairly well content to entrust their surety to theirrifles and strong arms.
Captain Kidd responded carelessly to the questions of the men in camp,waved them to stand back, and proceeded towards the rocks of theravine. Soon he stopped, alighted, and offered to assist Miss Maclandown from a horse which a rider had resigned to her. She made no answerto his speech of welcome, more or less satirical, and eluded his handby leaping lightly to the ground. He turned pale, frowned, and cried:
"Take her to the senorita. They are proud cats alike, and tell DonaRosario that you bring her a companion or a slave--I care not which shemakes of her."
"But, sir!" interrupted Miss Maclan, more alarmed at being thrown intothe power of a woman than heretofore, "You must know that I am thedaughter of Sir Archie Maclan! That he--"
"Oh, the frontier barrooms are full of such sirs!" he replied,brutally. "I care not who you are, since you would not be civil. Knowthat here you are like one of those tent poles--something I can snapasunder and toast my cheese with. Take her away! Three men lost becauseof her. I am _half froze for hair!_" and he made with his finger in theair near her forehead the atrocious pantomime of scalping her.
She did not shrink, but looked at him steadily with her cold blue eyes,and, with a lofty mien, followed the man in whose charge she was placed.
"And now that we have the petticoats out of the way," said one of thebandits hastily, "I suppose we can launch out and punish those who havewiped out poor Sol and his 'pardners?'"
"You will do nothing of the sort, Dick," replied Captain Kidd to thecoarse Englishman who addressed him.
"Why not? Are you afraid of the Crows who infest the wood? So itappears."
"No, nor of the Blackfeet who are also in the neighbourhood."
"Of the Red River Half-breeds, then, who are camped yonder? Pooh, Icould eat the lot, three at a bite."
"No."
"Of the sledging train, whose unconcealed traces abounded to thenortheast, as Lottery Paul reported two days ago?"
"Of them still less. If this young woman's tale be true, they camescooting along with sails on their sledges--what a notion! And scootedinto a cutoff! They were smashed, and the reds and the wolves have leftno more than their bones."
"I know now! You are afeard o' running up against the Old Man of theMountains!"
"Jim Ridge--"
"And his red-nigger companyero, Cherokee Bill!"
"No!" answered the captain, more warmly than with any of his negativesbefore.
"'Tis the Yager and his blood brother! I am sure we are near that hauntof theirs which no one has yet wormed out, and yet scores of daredevilshave left the settlements to try to discover their places, as we aredoing."
"My dear 'pal' Dick," replied Captain Kidd. "I do not underrate OldJim. He is wise, expert, brave, with an enormous influence overall the prairie and mountain rangers from the Great Lakes to theWaterless Desert of the Apache Country. I defy anyone to tell certainlybeforehand whether he will have the enmity or support of even those redmen who most hate us whites as a rule. He must be our prisoner--ourguide, by any means, mark, to the treasures of this region. Thoughit is a hard task to master him, he shall fall into our clutches,I promise you. But my fear is no more of him than of Canadians,Blackfeet, or Crows."
"Of whom, then, captain?"
"Have you seen any eagles on the sierra today?"
"No!"
"Or wild beasts in the glens?"
"No! But yesterday they were out of their retreats."
"I believe it. The eagles were whetting their beaks; and the bears,wolves, and wolverines sharpening their claws."
"Very like, because they have seen us and so many other gangs almostjostling in these wilds, and they know there will be meat."
"No, Dick; our conflicts will not furnish them with a glut. It willbe a mightier devastator--one that we cannot resist, and we will belucky to dodge. See the clouds rolling over a
nd over on the top of theRockies--above the snowbelt! That is the blizzard concentrating for arush down upon the valleys and plains. Go and set the men to making allweatherproof. We shall be snowed up! And may the devil take care of hisown!"