The Blue Goose

by Frank Lewis Nason

  CHAPTER XI

  _The Devil's Elbow_

  If Firmstone had flattered himself that his firm but just treatment ofLuna in the case of the stolen ore had cleared his path of difficultieshe would have been forced by current events to a rude awakening. He hadbeen neither flattered nor deceived. He knew very well that a prop putunder an unstable boulder may obscure the manifestation of gravity; buthe never deceived himself with the thought that it had been eliminated.The warming-up process, recommended by Pierre, was being activelyexploited. Scarcely a day passed but some annoying accident at the mineor mill occurred, frequently necessitating prolonged shut-downs. Day byday, by ones, by twos, by threes, his best men were leaving the mine.There was no need to ask them why, even if they would have given atruthful answer. He knew very well why. Yet he was neither disheartenednor discouraged. He realised the fact clearly, as he had written to hisEastern employers that it would take time and much patient endeavour torestore order where chaos had reigned so long undisturbed. There wasanother element impeding his progress which he by no means ignored--thatwas the Blue Goose.

  He had no tangible evidence against the resort beyond its obviouspretensions. He had no need of the unintentional but direct evidence ofElise's words that the habitues of the Blue Goose there aired theirgrievances, real or imagined, and that both Pierre and Morrison wereassiduously cultivating this restlessness by sympathy and counsel. Hewas morally certain of another fact--that the Blue Goose was indirectly,at least, at the bottom of the extensive system of thieving, in offeringa sure market for the stolen gold. This last fact had not especiallytroubled him, for he felt sure that the careful system of checks whichhe had inaugurated at the outset would eventually make the stealing sodangerous that it would be abandoned.

  So far in the history of the camp, when once the plates were cleaned andgold, as ingots, was in possession of the company, it had been perfectlysafe. No attempts at hold-ups had ever been made. Yet Firmstone hadprovided, in a measure, safeguards against this possibility. The ingotshad been packed in a small steel safe and shipped by stage to thenearest express office, about ten miles distant. Shipments had not beenmade every day, of course. But every day Firmstone had sent the safe,loaded with pigs of lead. The next day the safe was returned, and in itwas the agent's receipt. Whether the safe carried gold or lead, thegoing and the returning weight was the same. If the safe carried goldenough lead was added by the express agent to make the returning weightthe same. This fact was generally known, and even if a stage hold-upshould be attempted, the chances were thirty to one that a few pounds oflead would be the only booty of the robbers.

  This afternoon Firmstone was at his office-desk in a meditative andrelieved frame of mind. He was meditative over his troubles that, forall his care, seemed to be increasing. Relieved in that, but an hourbefore, $50,000 in bullion had been loaded into the stage, and was nowrolling down the canon on the way to its legitimate destination. Hismeditations were abruptly broken, and his sense of relief violentlydissipated, when the office-door was thrust open, and hatless, withclothing torn to shreds, the stage-driver stood before him, his beardclotted with blood which flowed from a jagged cut that reached from hisforehead across his cheek.

  Firmstone sprang to his feet with a startled exclamation. The driverswept his hand over his blood-clotted lips.

  "No; 'tain't a hold-up; just a plain, flat wreck. The whole outfit wentover the cliff at the Devil's Elbow. I stayed with my job long's Icould, but that wa'n't no decades."

  Firmstone dragged the man into his laboratory, and carefully began towash the blood from his face.

  "That's too long a process, gov'ner." The driver soused his head intothe bucket of cold water which Firmstone had drawn from the faucet.

  "Can you walk now?" Firmstone asked.

  "Reckon I'll try it a turn. Been flyin', for all I know. Must have been,to get up the cliff. I flew down; that much I know. Lit on a few places.That's where I got this." He pointed to the cut.

  Firmstone led the man to his own room adjoining the office, and openinga small chest, took out some rolls of plaster and bandages. He begandrying the wound.

  The office-door again opened and the bookkeeper entered.

  "Go tell Bennie to come down right away," Firmstone ordered, withoutpausing in his work.

  Satisfied that the man's skull was not fractured, he drew the edges ofthe wound together and fastened them with strips of plaster. A fewminutes later Bennie, followed by Zephyr, hurriedly entered the office.Paying no attention to their startled exclamations, Firmstone said:

  "I wish you would look after Jim. He's badly hurt. He'll tell you aboutit. You said at the Devil's Elbow?" turning to the driver.

  Zephyr glanced critically at the man; then, making up his mind that hewas not needed, he said:

  "I'll go along with you. Are you heeled?"

  Firmstone made no audible reply, but took down his revolver andcartridge-belt, and buckled them on.

  "'Tain't the heels you want; it's wings and fins. They won't be muchgood, either. The whole outfit's in the San Miguel. I followed it thatfar, and then pulled out." The driver was attempting to hold out gamely,but the excitement and the severe shaking-up were evidently telling onhim.

  Firmstone and Zephyr left the office and followed the wagon-trail downthe canon. Neither spoke a word.

  They reached the scene of the wreck and, still silent, began to lookcarefully about. A hundred feet below them the San Miguel, swollen bymelting snows, foamed and roared over its boulder-strewn bed. Near thefoot of the cliff one of the horses was impaled on a jagged rock; itshead and shoulders in the lapping water. In mid-stream and further downthe other was pressed by the current against a huge rock that liftedabove the flood. No trace of the stage was to be seen. That, broken intofragments by the fall, had been swept away.

  The spot where the accident occurred was a dangerous one at best. Forsome distance after leaving the mill the trail followed a nearly levelbench of hard slate rock, then, dipping sharply downward, cut across along rock-slide that reached to the summit of the mountain a thousandfeet above. On the opposite side a square-faced buttress crowded thetrail to the very brink of the canon. The trail followed along the footof this buttress for a hundred feet or more, and at the edge it againturned from the gorge at an acute angle. At the turning-point a cleft,twenty feet wide, cut the cliff from the river-bed to a point far abovethe trail. A bridge had spanned the cleft, but it was gone. The accidenthad been caused by the giving way of the bridge when the stage was onit.

  "Well, what do you make of it?" Firmstone turned to Zephyr and Zephyrshook his head.

  "That's a superfluous interrogation. Your thinks and mine on thissubject under consideration are as alike as two chicks hatched from adouble-yolked egg."

  "This is no accident." Firmstone spoke decidedly.

  Zephyr nodded deliberately.

  "That's no iridescent dream, unless you and I have been hitting the samepipe."

  "The question is," resumed Firmstone, "was the safe taken from the stagebefore the accident?" He looked at Zephyr inquiringly.

  "That depends on Jim Norwood." Zephyr whistled meditatively, then spokewith earnest decision. "That safe's in the river. The Blue Goose hasbeen setting for some time. This ain't the first gosling that's pippedits shell, and 'tain't going to be the last one, either, unless the nestis broken up."

  "That's what I think." Firmstone spoke slowly. "But this is a dangerousgame. I didn't think it would go so far."

  "It's up to you hard; but that isn't the worst of it. It's going to beup to you harder yet. They never reckoned on Jim's getting out of thisalive." Zephyr seated himself, and his hand wandered unconsciously tohis shirt. Then, changing his mind, he spoke without looking up. "Youdon't need this, Goggles, but I'm going to give it to you, just thesame. You're heavier calibre and longer range than the whole crowd. ButI am with you, and there are others. The gang haven't landed theirplunder yet, and, what's more, they aren't going to, either. I'll see tothat.
You just _restez tranquille_, and give your mind to other things.This little job is about my size."

  Firmstone made no reply to Zephyr. He knew his man, knew thoroughly theloyal sense of honour that, though sheltered in humourous, apparentlyindifferent cynicism, was ready to fight to the death in defence ofright.

  "I think we might as well go back to the mill. We've seen all there isto be seen here."

  They walked back in silence. At the office-door Zephyr paused.

  "Won't you come in?" asked Firmstone.

  "I think not, dearly beloved. The spirit moveth me in sundry places. Inother words, I've got a hunch. And say, Goggles, don't ask anyembarrassing questions, if your grub mysteriously disappears. Justcharge it up to permanent equipment account, and keep quiet, unless youwant to inquire darkly whether anyone knows what's become of that fellowZephyr."

  "Don't take any risks, Zephyr. A man's a long time dead. You know aswell as I the gang you're up against. I think I know what you're up to,and I also think I can help you out."

  Firmstone entered the office with no further words. It was the hardesttask of many that he had had, to send a report of the disaster to thecompany, but he did not shrink from it. He made a plain statement of thefacts of the case, including the manner in which the bridge had beenweakened to the point of giving way when the weight of the stage hadbeen put upon it. He also added that he was satisfied that the purposewas robbery, and that he knew who was at the bottom of the wholebusiness, that steps were being taken to recover the safe; but that theconviction of the plotters was another and a very doubtful proposition.Above all things, he asked to be let alone for a while, at least. Thedriver, he stated, had no idea that the wrecking of the stage was otherthan it appeared on the face, an accident pure and simple. The letterwas sealed and sent by special messenger to the railroad.

  One thing troubled Firmstone. He was very sure that his request to belet alone would not be heeded. Hartwell, the Eastern manager of thecompany, was a shallow, empty-headed man, insufferably conceited. Heheld the position, partly through a controlling interest in the shares,but more through the nimble use of a glib tongue that so man[oe]uvredhis corporal's guard of information that it appeared an able-bodiedregiment of knowledge covering the whole field of mining.

  If Firmstone had any weaknesses, one was an open contempt of flatterersand flattery, the other an impolitic, impatient resentment of patronage.There had been no open breaks between the manager and himself; in fact,the manager professed himself an admiring friend of Firmstone to hisface. At directors' meetings "Firmstone was a fairly promising man whoonly needed careful supervision to make in time a valuable man for thecompany." Firmstone had strongly opposed the shipping of bullion byprivate conveyance instead of by a responsible express company. In thishe was overruled by the manager. Being compelled to act against hisjudgment, he had done his best to minimise the risk by making dummyshipments each day, as has been explained.

  The loss of the month's clean-up was a very serious one, and he had nodoubt but that it would result in a visit from the manager, and that themanager would insist upon taking a prominent part in any attempt torecover the safe, if indeed he did not assume the sole direction. Theopportunity to add to his counterfeit laurels was too good to be lost.In the event of failure, Firmstone felt that no delicate scruples wouldprevent the shifting of the whole affair upon his own shoulders.

  Firmstone had not made the mistake of minimising the crafty cunning ofPierre, nor of interpreting his troubles at the mine and mill at theirobvious values. Cunningly devised as was the wreck of the stage, he feltsure that there was another object in view than the very obvious andsubstantial one of robbery. With the successful wrecking of the stagethere were yet large chances against the schemers getting possession ofthe safe and its contents. Still, there was a chance in their favour. Ifneither Pierre nor the company recovered the bullion, Pierre's schemewould not have miscarried wholly. The company would still be inignorance of the possibilities of the mine. Firmstone arranged everypossible detail clearly in his mind, from Pierre's standpoint. Histhorough grasp of the entire situation, his unwearying application tothe business in hand made further stealing impossible. Pierre was boundto get him out of his position. The agitation inaugurated by Morrisonwas only a part of the scheme by means of which this result was to beaccomplished. A whole month's clean-up had been made. If this reachedthe company safely, it would be a revelation to them. Firmstone'sposition would be unassailable, and henceforth Pierre would be compelledto content himself with the yield of the gambling and drinking at theBlue Goose. Whether the bullion ever found its way to the Blue Goose ornot, the wrecking of the stage would be in all likelihood theculminating disaster in Firmstone's undoing.

  Firmstone's indignation did not burn so fiercely against Pierre andMorrison--they were but venomous reptiles who threatened every decentman--as at the querulous criticisms of his employers, which were aperpetual drag, clogging his every movement, and threatening toneutralise his every effort in their behalf. He recalled the words of anold and successful mine manager:

  "You've got a hard row of corn. When you tackle a mine you've got tomake up your mind to have everyone against you, from the cook-houseflunkey to the president of the company, and the company is the hardestcrowd to buck against."

  Firmstone's face grew hard. The fight was on, and he was in it to win.That was what he was going to do.

  Zephyr, meantime, had gone to the cook-house. He found Bennie in hisroom.

  "How's Jim?" he asked.

  "Sleeping. That's good for him. He'll pull out all right. Get on toanything at the bridge?" Bennie was at sharp attention.

  "Nothing to get on to, Julius Benjamin. The bridge is gone. So'severything else. It's only a matter of time when Goggles will be gone,too. This last will fix him with the company." Zephyr glanced slyly atBennie with the last words. "The jig is up. The fiddle's broke its laststring, and I'm going, too."

  Bennie's eyes were flaming.

  "Take shame to yourself for those words, you white-livered frog-spawn,with a speck in the middle for the black heart of you! You're going?Well, here's the bones of my fist and the toe of my boot, to speed you!"

  "You'll have to put me up some grub, Benjamin."

  "Grub! It's grub, is it? I'll give you none. Stay here a bit and I'llgrub you to more purpose. I'll put grit in your craw and bones in yourback, and a sup of glue, till you can stand straight and stick to yourfriends. Lacking understanding that God never gave you, I'll point themout to you!"

  Zephyr's eyes had a twinkle that Bennie's indignation overlooked.

  "The Lord never passed you by on the other side, Julius. He put a heavycharge in your bell-muzzle. You're bound to hit something when you gooff. If He'd only put a time-fuse on your action, 'twould have onlyperfect. Not just yet, Julius Benjamin!" Zephyr languidly lifted adetaining hand as Bennie started to interrupt. "I'm going a long journeyfor an uncertain time. This is for the public. But, Julius, if you'lltake a walk in the gloaming each day, and leave an edible bundle in theclump of spruces above the Devil's Elbow you'll find it mysteriouslydisappears. From which you may infer that I'm travelling in a circlewith a small radius. And say, Julius, heave over some of your windballast and even up with discretion. You're to take a minor part in aplay, with Goggles and me as stars."

  "It's lean ore you're working in your wind-mill. Just what does itassay?" Bennie was yet a little suspicious.

  "For a man of abundant figures, Julius, you have a surprising appetitefor ungarnished speech. But here's to you! The safe's in the river.There's fifty thousand in bullion in the safe that's in the river. TheBlue Goose crowd is after the bullion that's in the safe that's in theriver. Say, Julius Benjamin, this is hard sledding. It's the story ofthe House that Jack Built, adapted to present circumstances. I'm goingto hang out in the canon till the river goes down, or till I bag some ofthe goslings from the Blue Goose. Your part is to work whom it mayconcern into the belief that I've lit out for my health, and meantime toplay
raven to my Elijah. Are you on?"

  "Yes, I'm on," growled Bennie. "On to more than you'll ever be. You haveto empty the gab from your head to leave room for your wits."