The Heart of Canyon Pass

by Thomas K. Holmes

  CHAPTER XIII--PLANS ARE MADE

  Hurley brought back with him two shovels instead of one, and the pick.The two young men took a roundabout way to the ford so that Boss Tolleymight not spy them and suspect where they were going.

  They did not talk much. Both were thinking too deeply--were much toodisturbed by the uprearing of this tragic thing--for idle chatter. Huntwondered how his friend really thought of Nell Blossom. For his own parthe was heavily depressed by this thing that had come to light.

  The situation threatened serious consequences for the cabaret singer. Ina more law-abiding community the coroner's office would have summonedNell Blossom for examination if the district attorney did not. And inany case, Hunt believed, the whole miserable business must come at lastto the light of day.

  It was past noon when Hunt and his friend arrived at that heap of dirtand debris that had before attracted their attention. But neither ofthem thought of the hour or of the midday meal.

  Hunt, dismounting, allowed the reins to trail upon the ground before hishorse's nose as he saw Hurley did with Bouncer. Both animals were welltrained. He removed coat, vest, and Tom Hicks' broad-brimmed hat whichhe still affected. Rolling up his sleeves he seized the pick and went atthe task with the skill as well as the strength of a trainedditch-digger. Hurley admired the parson's ability thus displayed.

  "Some boy, you, Willie. I'll tell the world you know something besidespounding the pulpit. Where's that shovel?"

  They uncovered the dead animal and threw it into the swift, deep currentof the Runaway.

  They did not cease digging, however, until every square yard of thefallen soil and rubble from the top of the cliff had been combed over.They covered one section with the upturned windrow of another. Nothingwhich had fallen with that fatal landslide remained unseen. But whatthey had feared to find was not in evidence.

  "Either Tolley's guess was right, or Dick Beckworth never came down thatwall with his horse," Hurley said with finality.

  Hunt nodded, finally leaning on his spade. "At least, we have satisfiedour own minds," he said. "That is something."

  "And mighty little. Dick isn't here. I bet a thousand he didn't go toHoskins with Nell. He wouldn't have walked in any case. Then, where thedevil is he?"

  "That is not the main question," rejoined the parson thoughtfully. "Theprincipal thing is to get at the truth about this accident. Whathappened up there at the top of the cliff? Did the man come down withthe horse and these several tons of gravel and soil? And if he camedown, what became of his body?"

  "Great saltpeter!" Hurley brought out his uncouth ejaculation with a newemphasis. "Do you suppose Tolley, after all, knows more about that thanNell does?"

  "What?" Then Hunt understood. "It might be," he said slowly. "EvidentlyTolley was not pleased by that gambler's leaving him, any more than hewas pleased by Miss Blossom's leaving him. It might be----"

  "It might be," finished Hurley with vigor, "that Boss Tolley is dragginga skunk after him to fool the hounds."

  Hunt admitted the truth of this rather homely expression. "All the morereason why the girl must be questioned," he said.

  "You're crazy, Willie!" cried Hurley. "You will get nothing out ofNell--if she doesn't want to talk. And if she knows anything at all aboutthis, and is at all connected with the matter of Dick's disappearance,you can just bet she's got good reason for keeping her lips closed."

  "For her own sake, she should confide in us--in you, at least. She willneed our help and our support if this comes out."

  "She's got mine, whether or no," Hurley said, slinging on his belt andgun again.

  Perhaps Hunt thought he spoke significantly as he hitched the weaponinto place. He wagged a disagreeing head.

  "That sort of support will not save Nell Blossom's soul," he observedthoughtfully. "To blow off Tolley's head will not help her one iota incleansing her mind and heart of anguish if she has guilty knowledge ofthat man's death--if he is dead."

  "I tell you that Dick the Devil was well named," cried Hurley furiously."Why some man before this had not beaten him to death is a mystery. IfNell shot him off the edge of that cliff, he got what was coming to him,and no more."

  "Oh!" murmured Hunt, with a shudder. "It might not be that she has sucha terrible sin as that on her conscience!"

  "I don't give a hang," returned his friend. "If she had, there ain'ttwelve men in Canyon County that would convict her of it. Don't tellme!"

  "Oh, Joe! You don't see. You don't understand," urged his friend sadly."What matters man's conviction of her crime? It is of what her own heartmay convict her."

  "'Twouldn't bother me none if I'd sent Dick the Devil over that cliff,"declared Hurley. "But I leave it to you, parson. You maybe know moreabout such things than I do. To tell the truth, you do. Otherwise Iwouldn't have had any hopes of your doing any good in Canyon Pass. Maybeyou know more about womankind than I do, as well," he added, a bittersmile wreathing his lips once more. "I wish you all the luck in theworld when you tackle Nell Blossom on this topic. But I wouldn't be inyour shoes for half my stock in the Great Hope."

  Anxious as he was made by the outbreak of this affair the ReverendWillett Ford Hunt did not forget the work that he earnestly hoped tobegin in Canyon Pass. Nor did he delay in laying plans for the effortshe hoped would aid in changing the moral tone of the town.

  It was that evening in the Three Star Grocery where he went with JoeHurley that the first tentative plan was discussed. Jib Collins, whoseemed to have been much impressed by the young minister on Sundayafternoon, was there, as well as the old storekeeper himself. With themseveral of the more sober citizens joined in conversation.

  Hunt struck while the iron was hot. The first thing, he thought, was tofind some place in which services could be held on Sunday. He had seenat least one empty store, or warehouse, he told them, which might becleaned out and put into fairly decent shape. He had looked into thewindows. There was a dingy sign on the front which said it was for sale.

  "Dad burn it, parson!" exclaimed Judson, "you must mean that old placeof Tolley's."

  "Tolley?" repeated Hunt with disappointment. "Does it belong to thatman?"

  "Sure does," said Jib Collins.

  "It used to be where Tolley had his honkytonk before he built his biggerplace. He owns it, of course," Hurley remarked.

  "Then I presume we could scarcely count on getting it," said Hunt withreflection. "Tolley is vigorously opposed, I understand, to this thingwe wish to do."

  "Hold on," put in the storekeeper. "Let's study on it. In the firstplace, you all keep it under your hats, and maybe I can do somethingwith Tolley."

  "You'll do a fat lot with him," prophesied Collins.

  "Mebbe so. We'll see. How 'bout that 'wisdom of sarpints' the Good Bookspeaks of, parson?" said the storekeeper. "You lemme try to fix it withTolley. That's all."

  "Oh, we'll leave it to you, old-timer," Hurley said laughingly. "Nobodywill begrudge you that job."

  "If we get that place--or some other--we must have seats," Hunt went on."There are many things to think of--and many things to get togetherbefore next Sunday. A week is none too long to prepare for such a work."

  "And a pulpit," Collins proposed. "Me and Cale could knock up apulpit--of a kind. We are some carpenters--me and Cale. If I can get himto help."

  Hunt was perfectly willing to put such burdens as he might upon thefriendly citizens of Canyon Pass. In fact, that is just what he wantedthem to do--take hold of the new idea as though they really supported it.The discussion, although of generalities, brought forth some concreteresults.

  Judson knew that Tolley was anxious to do something with the old shack.Judson intimated that he expected to need more room for goods. He didnot say exactly when he would need it; but he got Tolley down to anagreement, and they made a bargain. The storekeeper paid a nominal rentfor the shack six months in advance, agreeing to make such repairs asthe place might need himself.

  The business was kept secret, although Collins and Cale M
ack went towork on their part of the job the very next day. Others collected seatsand a few other furnishings. Everything was of the plainest; even thepulpit was built of unpainted boards. But Hunt saw that the place wasclean.

  Judson furnished lamps from his stock. "We'll want evening meetings,too," he said. "After we get to going, I mean. It won't be a bad idea tocommence running a show that will compete with the Grub Stake andColorado Brown's and those other joints. The boys drop into the saloonsbecause there ain't another derned place in the town to go to afterdark."

  On Wednesday Hunt, walking toward the mines, confronted unexpectedly thewithered, baldheaded man he had carried home over his shoulder on Sundaymorning. Sam Tubbs stopped him.

  "I reckon you're the parson, ain't you?" he asked, cocking his head in abirdlike way to look up at Hunt. "My old woman is right smart anxious tosee you again. That woman's all for this here religion they say you aregoing to deal out to the boys. Says she's got something for you."

  "Thank you, Mr. Tubbs. I will go around and call on her."

  "Well, you can if you like. Miz Tubbs is pretty nigh big enough to beher own boss, and what I say don't affect her no more than as though Ishot my mouth off in the middle of Topaz Desert. That's a fact. I hearyou are a pretty decent feller, as parsons go; but I might as well tellyou right now that I ain't--and don't ever mean to be--a convert."

  "I shall like you none the less for that, Mr. Tubbs," said Hunt, smilingand offering his hand. "A man must always decide for himself, you know.I shall be glad to have you come to hear me preach; but you need notbelieve a word I say unless your own mind tells you I am right."

  "Huh!" grunted Sam, rather staggered. "That sounds fair. Mebbe I willcome to hear you--sometime. If you last long enough."

  This opinion--that the parson would not last in his attempt to upliftCanyon Pass--seemed to be the view of the general run of Passonians.

  He had a few very enthusiastic coworkers, however. He found one when hewent to call upon Mother Tubbs.

  "It's been in my heart for many a long day, Brother Hunt," the old womansaid. "This here holding meetings, and the like. I said a long time backI'd give a pretty if a man of God would come in here and shake this camplike a snowslide in the mountains. We need to get a mighty bump.Youbetcha!

  "Now the time's come, I'm just as excited as a gal going to her firstdance. I can't make Sam enthuse none; and I'm disappointed in Nell, I dosay. But I am going to do all I can myself to boost your job for you."

  "Thank you, Sister Tubbs," said the young parson. "Is Miss Blossomhere?"

  "She's upstairs a-dressin'. But I don't reckon she'll give you much butthe rough side of her tongue. Lately, Nell seems to be bewitched. Thinkof her ridin' her pony up and down the street the other day, shootin'and cavortin' like a drunken cow-puncher! She puts on these didoes jestfor devilment. And she ain't got a good word for you and your plans,Brother Hunt."

  "Well," said the parson calmly, "perhaps things will change with her intime. We won't worry."

  "I'm glad you can take it so calm," said Mother Tubbs, sniffing. "Now,come in yere. This is what I got for you."

  She led the way into the inner room, half bedroom and half sitting room,the principal room in the shack. There was a small center table. On itwas a huge tome with tarnished brass clasps--a bulky volume that hadevidently seen much rough usage. Mother Tubbs put her hand upon itproudly.

  "See that, Brother Hunt?" she said. "It's the old Bible out of the BlueLick Chapel down in Arkansas. The chapel burned down when I was a gal;but the Bible was saved. When my folks moved out thisaway we brung itwith us, and it's been in the bottom of an old trunk of mine for fortyyear. Now it comes to light." She opened it with care. "I reckon you gotall the Bibles you need to work with. But I do like to see a big onelike this on the pulpit for show."

  "This is most thoughtful and kind of you, Sister Tubbs," declared Hunt,understanding the spirit of pride and reverence in which the old womanhad offered the book. "I shall see that it rests on our pulpit."

  At that moment Nell Blossom came into the room from the stairway. Shenodded to him bruskly, but offered him no welcoming hand.

  "I declare, Nell," complained the old woman, "you ain't going outwithout a word to the parson, are you?"

  "I've no particular word for the parson," returned the girl, a glint ofice in her blue eyes.

  "If you will allow me to say so, Miss Blossom," said Hunt quietly, "Ihave a particular word for you."

  She stared at him angrily. He picked up his hat from the chair.

  "If you are going out," he said, "I will walk along with you and saywhat I have to say."

  "Humph! I can't stop you from walking up Mulligan Lane. It's free,"returned the girl most ungraciously and walked ahead of him out of thehouse.