“Though I suppose it will be just that much work thrown away,” she said, “for the stacks will burn some night like they did before.”
“Take a chance,” counseled Fair, “maybe they won’t this time.”
“You bet we’ll take the chance,” said the girl with a flare7 of her old spirit, “we’ve never laid down yet.”
But try as she would there was a dullness in her, a desire to stop and rest a bit, and the hatred8 that was slowly growing in her stirred anew each time she raised her eyes to the distant line of Rainbow Cliff gleaming in the light like fairy stuff.
“If it wasn’t for you now, Mr. Fair,” she said to him, “I think I’d—almost—be ready to give up. You give me new courage—as Sheriff Selwood did when he stepped behind me that day on McKane’s porch.”
“No, you wouldn’t. It isn’t in you to give up. Perhaps reinforcements do have their effect—but you’d never leave the line, Nance.”
The girl smiled.
It was the first time he had used her given name and her heart missed a beat, while the warm surge went through her again.
“No—I know it—but sometimes I do feel—well, tired.”
“You’ve had enough to make you so,” he said and laid his hand on hers. At his infrequent touches Nance always felt a glow of returning strength, as if once more she could work and fight for her own. She counted it one of her secant blessings9 that Brand Fair had come into her life at its darkest hour.
Sheriff Selwood had a visitor.
“Sheriff,” he said, “I’ve a notion you and I could have a pleasant and perhaps a profitable talk. Will you saddle a horse and ride out with me a way?”
“Sure,” said Price Selwood readily, and asked no questions.
He went into his stable and soon came out leading the lean bay, mounted and followed as the other turned away.
“That’s a pretty good horse you ride, stranger,” he said, “I’ve noticed it at Cordova a time or two.”
“Yes,” returned Smith, “he has blood and bottom—also intelligence.”
They rode for a while in silence. Then the stranger slouched sidewise in his saddle and looked at Selwood.
“I’m going to tell you several things, Sheriff,” he said, “and show you some more. And I want to make a pact12 with you. It’s about Cattle Kate Cathrew and the Allison family.”
“Shoot,” said the sheriff succinctly13.
“I’m a stranger hereabouts, but I’m not a happen-so. I’ve hunted Kate Cathrew for two years.”
At that Price Selwood became alert in every nerve.
“What?” he ejaculated.
“On horseback, by train—from New York to this side the Rockies. Are you willing to let me line up with you in this matter?”
“I’m willing to do anything under Heaven that’s square to get that bunch of rustlers—for so I’m convinced they are,” said Selwood, “and to do it quick, for I’m afraid if we don’t, something will happen to the folks on Nameless that can’t be mended.”
“God!” cried the sheriff, “what’s that?”
“Just a scratch on her arm—but it was meant for her heart. I was there at the time. The ball came from across the river—a high-power gun.”
“That’s it! The same old stuff—shoot from ambush—no evidence—nothing. It makes a man wild! I’ve done all a man could do, and I can’t put my finger on a thing.”
“I’ve heard about the disappearing cattle,” said the other, “and I’ve done a bit on my own hook. I may as well tell you now, that my name is not Smith, and that I’ve been in Blue Stone Cañon for nearly two months.”
Selwood looked at him in astonishment16.
“No one knows it all, even about his own doorstep,” he said. “I thought you were just passing through.”
“If you will, I’d like you to ride up the cañon with me,” said Fair, “to where the right wall falls away beyond the mouth of Little Blue. It’s early and we can make it by noon, I think.”
They fell silent for a while, threading the hills that rose in a jumbled17 mass to the south of Nameless Valley, and after an hour or so, reached the river. They crossed on the riffle where Nance was accustomed to ford18 on her way to Blue Stone, and entered the mouth of the great cut.
“We’ll keep to the water as much as possible,” said Fair, “because there are other eyes than ours here sometimes.”
They passed the empty cave where Nance had found Sonny and Dirk and followed the stream on up to the mouth of Little Blue.
“From up in there,” said Fair, riding ahead, “I saw one of the Cathrew riders—a man named Provine—driving a red steer19 up this way.”
“Ah!” said the sheriff, adding to himself—“and so did Nance Allison. These young folks seem to know each other pretty well.”
“He went on north and disappeared. I followed next day and came upon a mystery—some more of this water travel which leads nowhere.”
“We’ve had a lot of that,” said Selwood bitterly, “it’s what has baffled the whole country.”
“Well—I’ll show you something,” said Fair, “that may set you guessing.”
The keen blue shadows were cold and the voices were murmuring in the high escarpments.
Through pools and over shale20, where ever they could, they put their horses, avoiding the sand, and presently, when the sunlight had crept almost down to the floor of the cañon, they came out at the spot where the right wall fell away abruptly21 showing the plains stretched out like a dry brown floor, dotted with sparse22 bunch grass.
Fair went on ahead, still keeping to the water, though both horses were pretty well winded with the hard going it afforded, and at last drew up to let Selwood come alongside.
He sat still for a moment.
“Listen a bit,” he said, “do you hear anything different from the sounds of water and the murmuring of the big cut?”
The sheriff listened sharply.
“Yes,” he said presently, “I do. Sounds like wind.”
“Exactly. Yet there isn’t any wind, more than the draft which always draws down the cañon. Now look closely at the wall. Watch that clump24 of willows25 yonder.”
Selwood looked and for a moment his face did not change.
Then, suddenly, his mouth fell open, his eyes grew wide with astonishment.
“Great Scott!” he said, “they’re blowing out from the wall! There’s wind behind them!”
Fair moved forward and dismounted, leaving Diamond in the stream. The sheriff followed.
They stepped lightly across the strip of sand which lay between the water and the willows and Fair turned to the right, circling the clump.
“Here,” he said, “that red steer and the man who drove it went into the wall. I found their tracks that day. They’ve been obliterated29 by the shifting sand since then.”
He pushed aside a feathery branch and the sheriff at his shoulder craned an incredulous head to look into what seemed the mouth of a cave.
“No—it’s not a cave,” said Fair at his surmise30, “it’s a prehistoric31 underground passage. It leads straight into the heart of Mystery Ridge32 from this end, and it has an opening somewhere, attested33 to by this current of wind. This mouth is just wide enough to admit one steer at a time, one horse and rider—but—what more do you want?”
“Great Scott!” cried Selwood again, “of all the impossible things! And not a soul on Nameless knows about it!”
“Wrong!” said Fair, “Kate Cathrew and her riders know. That open plain yonder—it leads out to a town, doesn’t it? On the railroad?”
“Marston—yes. A long way across.”
“Exactly,” said Fair. “Now, sheriff, find the other end of this subterranean36 passage and I believe you’ll have solved the mystery of the disappearing steers37.”
Price Selwood held out his hand. It was trembling.
“I can’t tell you what I owe you for this information, Mr. ——?”
“Smith—yes,” said Fair smiling.
“Smith. It means more than I can say—to me.”
“It means as much—or more—to me,” returned the other, “I’ve given two years of my life to a still-hunt for Kate Cathrew. I’d give two more to see her brought to justice.”
“And we’ll get her!” said the sheriff grimly though with a lilt of joy in his voice. “Oh, my Lord, just won’t we get her! We’ll follow this hole straight to its——”
“If I might suggest,” cut in Fair, “I’d say we’ll back out now—even brush out our tracks—and begin a systematic38 picketing39 of the Cathrew bunch. The cattle are fat on the ranges—it’ll soon be time to drive. Don’t you think it likely that another big bunch might—disappear down Nameless River?”
“Say,” said Selwood smiling. “Mister, you just move in my house with me! You can think faster and straighter than any man I ever met. Let’s go right now.”
Fair laughed and turned away, leading Diamond back down the cañon.
“For the present,” he said, “I’ll keep to the background as I have been doing. This woman would recognise me and be instantly alert for trouble. Another thing, Sheriff—those men with her are not cattlemen.”
“Just what I’ve always said!” cried Selwood delightedly, “I knew that long ago. There’s one or two who do pass muster—her foreman and that black devil from Texas, Sud Provine. The rest are city stuff.”
“They are, without exception, criminals who have been defended by one of the ablest lawyers in New York and acquitted40. They owe him a lot—and he has something more on each one of them, so that they are his henchmen in every instance. This man is Lawrence Arnold.”
“Kate Cathrew’s partner! He owns half of Sky Line!”
“Exactly. When he gets hold of a man he wants to use, he seems to send him here. I have recognized three of these riders already, though none of them knew me.”
“Excuse me, mister,” said Selwood, “but how do you happen to know so much?”
“That question is your right, and I will answer it. Kate Cathrew was a New York woman—I knew her there some six years ago. She was clever then—and unscrupulous, always playing for her own advancement41. It was along that line that she did the deed for which I have hunted her down—and found her at last. What deed that was I am not ready to say, nor to whom it was done. It must suffice for the present to tell you that it ruined one life and bade fair to ruin another until I stepped in to take a hand. These two lives were very near my own—and for their sake I have become a wanderer, a homeless tramp, searching the lone28 places of the West to find this woman and make her pay—to bring her to justice. I watched Lawrence Arnold for three years before I started and I knew he was in touch with her, that between them some way they were making money, but I could never get track of her through him. He was too sharp for me. I have visited every cattle ranch owned by a woman in the whole United States, it seems to me. I found seven in Texas, two in Montana, and more in Idaho. I have ridden this little chap thousands of miles, shipped him with me by rail thousands more. I knew it was cattle stuff from some of Arnold’s deals, but where they came from has been a mystery—until two months ago. Now you know what I am and why I’m on Cattle Kate’s trail like a nemesis42. I think, if we work together, we’ll land her soon—and land her hard and fast where she belongs.”
The summer drowsed along on Nameless, sweet with sun and the little winds that stirred the pine tops, green with verdure and starred with wild flowers. The lonesome world of the jumbled hills was fair as Paradise, wistful with silence, mysterious with its suggestion of eternal waiting.
To Nance Allison, sitting listlessly on her doorstep, it seemed strangely empty. There was nothing to do, now that the heavy labor of the haying was over. She watched her three big stacks with sombre eyes, expecting each morning to find them destroyed, but nothing happened to them.
Bud carried his father’s rifle now and day after day he went morosely44 into the hills after venison.
“Got to hang up enough meat for winter,” he told Nance when she looked at him with troubled eyes.
“Got to remember that Commandment which says ‘Thou shalt not kill,’” she answered.
“Brand said to carry the gun.”
“Brand said ‘defend’—not ‘murder.’ Hold hard, Bud. We’ve kept clean so far.”
“Yes—and what’ve we got? A grave—and this.”
Quick tears came in Nance’s eyes and she laid a hand upon it with infinite tenderness.
“I know,” she said, “but somehow I still have faith. We’ll come out free some day.”
“Perhaps—free like our Pappy.”
“God forbid!” said the girl with trembling lips.
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1
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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5
nance
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| n.娘娘腔的男人，男同性恋者 | |
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6
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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9
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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prospector
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| n.探矿者 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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pact
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| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
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succinctly
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| adv.简洁地；简洁地，简便地 | |
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14
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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15
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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16
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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17
jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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shale
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| n.页岩，泥板岩 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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29
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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30
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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34
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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39
picketing
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| [经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线 | |
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40
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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41
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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42
nemesis
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| n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手 | |
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43
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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44
morosely
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| adv.愁眉苦脸地，忧郁地 | |
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45
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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46
sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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