CHAPTER XXVI
THE CALL
The long quarrel was over, they had made up--and kissed--and yet toWiley it all seemed unreal. That is, all but the kiss. It was that,perhaps, which made the rest seem unreal, for it had changed the colorof his life. Before, he had thought in terms of hard fact, but thekiss put a rainbow in the sky. It roused a great hope, a joy, anecstasy, a sense of well-wishing for mankind; and yet it was only hewho had changed. The world was the same; Samuel Blount was the same;and the miners, and Stiff Neck George. They were all there together ina rough-and-tumble fight to see who would get the Paymaster Mine and,even with the madness of her kiss in his soul, he pressed on towardsthe one, fixed goal.
He had set out to win the Paymaster and win it he would if he had toshoot his way to victory. For Stiff Neck George, like a watchful coyote,had taken up his post on the hill; and from that sign alone Wiley knewthat Blount had changed his tactics and appealed to the court of lastresort. His attachments had failed, his injunction suit had failed, andhis cheap attempt to cut off Wiley's checks. The money had come,promptly forwarded by the Express Company with a note of apology fromthe buyer, and it lay now in Wiley's office safe. All that was left todo was to send it to Blount and get back the deed to the property. Threedays remained before the bond and lease expired, but that was not a daytoo much. The question was--who to send? Wiley thought the matter over,glanced at George up on the hill, and sent a note down to Virginia.
She came up the trail smiling, for her proud reserve had vanished, andshe even allowed him a kiss; but when he asked her to take the money toBlount she drew back and shook her head.
"I'm afraid," she said, "--I'm afraid something might happen. Can't yousend it by somebody else?"
"No, that's just the point," he answered gravely. "Something is likelyto happen if I do. My lawyer has turned crooked, and the bank won'ttouch it; so there's nobody to send but you. You can hide the money tillyou get there, so that no one will rob you on the way; and if anybodyasks you, you can tell them about that stock deal and that you're goingdown to hold up Blount."
"Why don't you go?" she objected and he pointed out the doorway at StiffNeck George on the hill.
"There he sits," he said, "like a red-necked old buzzard, just waitingfor a chance to jump my mine. He may do it, anyhow--I wouldn't put itpast him--but if he comes he'd better come a-shooting. You see, here'sthe point: the man that holds this mine can turn out ten thousanddollars a day, and that amount of money would hire enough lawyers tofight the outsiders to a standstill. If I get jumped I'm licked, becauseI haven't got any more money; and I'm going to stay right here and fight'em. But you take this money--there's fifty-two thousand dollars--and godown and make that payment. If you can't find Blount, then hunt up theclerk of the Superior Court and deposit the fifty thousand with him.Just bring me his receipt, with a memorandum of the payment, and he'llnotify Blount himself."
"I don't like to," she shuddered. "I'm afraid they won't take it, andthen you'll----"
"They've got to take it!" he broke in eagerly. "Just get the stagedriver to go along as witness, and I'll give you a full power ofattorney. And then listen, Virginia; you take the rest of this money andbuy back your father's stock."
"Oh, can I?" she cried and, reaching out for the money, she held it withtremulous hands. There were fifty thousand-dollar bills, golden yellowon the back and a rich, glossy black on the front; and others of smallerdenominations, making fifty-two thousand in all. It was a fortune initself, but in what it was to buy it was well worth over a million.
"Aren't you afraid to trust me?" she asked at last, and when he smiledshe hid it away. "All right," she said, "and as soon as I've paid itI'll call you up on the 'phone."
She went out the next morning on the early stage and Wiley watched itrush across the plain. It was green as a lawn, that dry, treeless desertwith its millions of evenly spaced creosote bushes; but as the sun rosehigher it turned blood-red like an omen of evil to come. Many timesbefore, in the glow of evening, he had seen the green change to red; butnow it was ominous, with Stiff Neck George on the hill-top and ShadowMountain frowning down behind. He paced about uneasily as the day woreon and at night he listened for the 'phone. She was to call him up, assoon as she had paid over the money; but it did not ring that night.
The morning of the last day dawned fair and pleasant, with the freshsmell of dew in the air, and he awoke with a sense that all was well.Virginia was in Vegas and, when Blount came to his office, she wouldmake the payment in his stead. There was no chance to fail, once she hadfound her man; and if Blount refused to accept it, which he could hardlydo, she could simply leave the money with the court. There were nopapers to confuse her, no forms to go through; Blount had made a legalcontract to sell the property and she had a full power of attorney. Allit called for was loyalty and faithfulness to her trust, and Wiley knewVirginia too well to think she would fail him now. She was proud andhot-headed, and she had fought him in the past; but, once she had givenher word, she would keep her promise or die.
As the sun rose higher he imagined her at the bank with the sheaf ofbills hidden in her bosom, and Blount's surprise and palavering when hefound he was caught and that his deep-laid plans had failed. He hadschemed to catch Wiley between the horns of a dilemma, and either jumphis mine when he went in to make the payment or force him to lose it bydefault. But, almost by a miracle, Virginia had appeared at the verymoment when he was seeking a messenger; and by an even greater miracle,they had composed all their difficulties just in time for him to sendher to town. It was like an act of Providence, an answer to prayer, ifpeople any longer prayed; and, more, even, than the money and the joy ofsuccess, was the consciousness of Virginia's love. She had seemed sohostile, so distant and unattainable; but the moment that he forgot herand abandoned all hope she fluttered to his hand like a dove.
The noon hour came and went and as Wiley watched the 'phone it seemed tohim strangely silent. To be sure, few people called him, but--hesnatched the receiver from the hook. He had guessed it--the 'phone wasdead! He rattled the hook and listened impatiently, then he shouted andlistened again, and black fancies rose up in his brain. What was themeaning of this? Had they cut the wire on him? And why? It really madeno difference! Virginia was there; he had heard it from the stage-driverwho had driven her in the day before--and yet, there must be a reason.Perhaps it was an accident, for the line was old and neglected, but whyshould it happen now? He hung up the receiver and reviewed it allcalmly. There were a hundred things which might happen to the line, forit passed through rough country near Vegas; but the weather was fair andthere was no wind blowing to topple over the poles. No one used the linebut him--it had been connected up by Blount when he had first taken overthe mine--and yet the wire had been cut. But by whom? As he sat therepondering he raised his eyes to the hill-top, and Stiff Neck George wasgone!
"The dastard!" cursed Wiley, leaping furiously to his feet and reachingfor his rifle, but though he scanned the line through his high-powerfield-glasses there was not a man in sight. Wiley ran down to the shedand got out his racer that had lain there idle for months, but as hismotor began to thunder, a head popped up and he saw Stiff Neck George onthe ridge. He too had a rifle and, as he saw Wiley watching him, hedropped back and hid from sight.
"Oho!" said Wiley, and, leaving his machine, he strode angrily back tothe mine. So that was their game, to get him to leave and then slip inand jump his mine. Perhaps it was all arranged with the men he hadworking for him and George would not even have a fight. Neither hisforemen nor the guards were men he would care to trust in a matterinvolving millions--and yet something was wrong in Vegas. There wastreachery somewhere or they would not cut the line to keep him fromgetting the news. He lingered irresolutely, his hands itching for thesteering wheel, his eyes searching for Stiff Neck George.
There was a feud between them--he had braved George's killing gun andrushed in and kicked him down the dump. Would George, then, withhold hishand? But, down in Vegas, Bl
ount was framing up some game to deprive himof title to his mine. Wiley weighed them in the balance, the two forcesagainst him, and decided to stay with the mine. As long as he held itthere were lawyers a-plenty to prove that his title was good, but ifStiff Neck George jumped it he would have to kill him to get backpossession of the property. Or rather, he would have to fight him, forGeorge was a gunman with notches on the butt of his six-shooter. No, hewould have to get killed, or give up the Paymaster, whether Blount wasright or wrong.
He set his teeth and settled down to endure it--but he knew thatVirginia would not fail him. He had given her the money, she knew whatto do, and as sure as she hoped to save her father, he knew that shewould do it. His part was to hold down the mine. The men came and went,the engine puffed and panted, and the long, dragging hours went by. Asthe darkness came on Wiley stalked in the shadows, looking out into thenight for Stiff Neck George; but nothing stirred, the work went on asusual, and at midnight he gave up the search. His option had expired andeither the mine was his or the title had reverted to the Company. Therewas nothing to watch for and so he slept, but at dawn his telephonejangled.
Wiley rose up breathlessly and took down the receiver but no oneanswered his call. The 'phone was dead and yet it had rung--or was itonly a dream? He hung up in disgust and went back to bed but somethingdrew him back to the 'phone. He held down the hook and, with thereceiver to his ear, let the lever rise slowly up. There was talkinggoing on and men laughing in hoarse voices and the tramp of feet to andfro, but no one responded to his shouts. He hung up once more and thensuddenly it came over him, a foreboding of impending disaster. Somethingwas wrong, something big that must be stopped at once; and a voicecalled insistently for action. He leapt into his clothes and started forthe door--then turned back and strapped on his pistol. As the sun roseup he was a speck in the desert, rushing on through a blood-red sea.
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