The Cattle-Baron's Daughter

by Harold Bindloss

  XX

  HETTY'S OBSTINACY

  It was very cold, the red sun hung low above the prairie's western rim,and Clavering, who sat behind Hetty and Miss Schuyler in the lurchingsleigh, glanced over his shoulder anxiously.

  "Hadn't you better pull up and let me have the reins, Miss Torrance?" hesaid.

  Hetty laughed. "Why?" she asked, "I haven't seen the horse I could notdrive."

  "Well," said Clavering drily, "this is the first time you have either seenor tried to drive Badger, and I not infrequently get out and lead the teamdown the slope in front of you when I cross the creek. It has a veryawkward bend in it."

  Hetty looked about her, and, as it happened, the glare of sunlight flungback from the snow was in her eyes. Still, she could dimly see the traildip over what seemed to be the edge of a gully close ahead, and she knewthe descent to the creek in its bottom was a trifle perilous. She was,however, fearless and a trifle obstinate, and Clavering had,unfortunately, already ventured to give her what she considered quiteunnecessary instructions as to the handling of the team. There had alsobeen an indefinite change in his attitude towards her during the last weekor two, which the girl, without exactly knowing why, resented and thisappeared a fitting opportunity for checking any further presumption.

  "You can get down now if you wish," she said. "We will stop and pick youup when we reach the level again."

  Clavering said nothing further, for he knew that Miss Torrance was verylike her father in some respects, and Hetty shook the reins. The nextminute they had swept over the brink, and Flora Schuyler saw the trail dipsteeply but slantwise to lessen the gradient to the frozen creek. Thesinking sun was hidden by the high bank now and the snow had faded to acold blue-whiteness, through which the trail ran, a faint line of duskygrey. It was difficult to distinguish at the pace the team were making,and the ground dropped sharply on one side of it.

  "Let him have the reins, Hetty," she said.

  Unfortunately Clavering, who was a trifle nettled and knew that team,especially the temper of Badger the near horse better than Hetty did,laughed just then.

  "Hold fast, Miss Schuyler, and remember that if anything does happen, theright-hand side is the one to get out from," he said.

  "Now," said Hetty, "I'm not going to forgive you that. You sit quitestill, and we'll show him something, Flo."

  She touched the horses with the lash, and Badger flung up his head;another moment and he and the other beast had broken into a gallop. Hettythrew herself backwards with both hands on the reins, but no cry escapedher, and Clavering, who had a suspicion that he could do no more than shewas doing now, even if he could get over the back of the seat in time,which was out of the question, set his lips as he watched the bank of snowthe trail twisted round rush towards them. The sleigh bounced beneath himin another second or two, there was a stifled scream from Flora Schuyler,and leaning over he tore the robe about the girls from its fastenings.Then, there was a bewildering jolting and a crash, and he was flung outhead foremost into dusty snow.

  When he scrambled to his feet again Hetty was sitting in the snow close byhim, and Flora Schuyler creeping out of a wreath of it on her hands andknees. The sleigh lay on one side, not far away, with the Badger rollingand kicking amidst a tangle of harness, though the other horse was stillupon its feet.

  Clavering was pleased to find all his limbs intact, and almost asgratified to see only indignant astonishment in Hetty's face. She rosebefore he could help her and in another moment or two Flora Schuyler alsostood upright, clinging to his arm.

  "No," she said, with a little gasp, "I don't think I'm killed, though Ifelt quite sure of it at first. Now I only feel as though I'd been throughan earthquake."

  Hetty turned and looked at Clavering, with a little red spot in eithercheek. "Why don't you say something?" she asked. "Are you waiting forme?"

  "I don't know that anything very appropriate occurs to me. You know I'mdevoutly thankful you have both escaped injury," said the man, who wasmore shaken than he cared to admit.

  "Then I'll have to begin," and Hetty's eyes sparkled. "It was my fault,Mr. Clavering, and, if it is any relief to you, I feel most horriblyashamed of my obstinacy. Will that satisfy you?"

  Clavering turned his head away, for he felt greatly inclined to laugh, buthe knew the Torrance temper. Hetty had been very haughty during thatdrive, but she had not appeared especially dignified when she sat blinkingabout her in the snow, nor had Miss Schuyler, and he felt that theyrealized it; and in feminine fashion blamed him for being there. It wasMiss Schuyler who relieved the situation.

  "Hadn't you better do something for the horse? It is apparently trying tohang itself--and I almost wish it would. It deserves to succeed."

  Clavering could have done very little by himself, but in another minuteHetty was kneeling on the horse's head, while, at more than a little riskfrom the battering hoofs, he loosed some of the harness. Then, the Badgerwas allowed to flounder to his feet, and Clavering proceeded to readjusthis trappings. A buckle had drawn, however, and a strap had burst.

  "No," said Hetty sharply. "Not that way. Don't you see you've got to leadthe trace through. It is most unfortunate Larry isn't here."

  Clavering glanced at Miss Schuyler, and both of them laughed, while Hettyfrowned.

  "Well," she said, "he would have fixed the thing in half the time, and wecan't stay here for ever."

  Clavering did what he could; but repairing harness in the open undertwenty or thirty degrees of frost is a difficult task for any man,especially when he has no tools to work with and cannot remove hismittens, and it was at least twenty minutes before he somewhat doubtfullyannounced that all was ready. He handed Miss Schuyler into the sleigh, andthen passed the reins to Hetty, who stood with one foot on the step,apparently waiting for something.

  "I don't think he will run away again," he said.

  The girl glanced at him sharply. "I am vexed with myself. Don't make mevexed with you," she said.

  Clavering said nothing, but took the reins and they slid slowly down intothe hollow, and, more slowly still, across the frozen creek and up theopposite ascent. After awhile Hetty touched his shoulder.

  "I really don't want to meddle; but, while caution is commendable, it willbe dark very soon," she said.

  "Something has gone wrong," Clavering said gravely. "I'm afraid I'll haveto get down."

  He stood for several minutes looking at the frame of the sleigh and anindented line ploughed behind it in the snow, and then quietly commencedto loose the horses.

  "Well," said Hetty sharply, "what are you going to do?"

  "Take them out," said Clavering.

  "Why?"

  Clavering laughed. "They are not elephants and have been doing rather morethan one could expect any horse to do. It is really not my fault, youknow, but one of the runners has broken, and the piece sticks into thesnow."

  "Then, whatever are we to do?"

  "I am afraid you and Miss Schuyler will have to ride on to Allonby's. Ican fix the furs so they'll make some kind of saddle, and it can't be morethan eight miles or so."

  Miss Schuyler almost screamed. "I can't," she said.

  "Don't talk nonsense, Flo," said Hetty. "You'll just have to."

  Clavering's fingers were very cold, and the girls' still colder, before hehad somehow girthed a rug about each of the horses and ruthlessly cut andknotted the reins. The extemporized saddles did not look very secure, butHetty lightly swung herself into one, though Miss Schuyler found itdifficult to repress a cry, and was not sure that she quite succeeded,when Clavering lifted her to the other.

  "I'm quite sure I shall fall off," she said.

  Hetty was evidently very much displeased at something, for she seemed toforget Clavering was there. "If you do I'll never speak to you again," shesaid. "You might have been fond of him, Flo. There wasn't the leastnecessity to put your arm right around his neck."

  Clavering wisely stooped to do something to one of his moccasins, for hesaw an ominous sparkle
in Miss Schuyler's eyes, but he looked upprematurely and the smile was still upon his lips when he met Hetty'sgaze.

  "How are you going to get anywhere?" she asked.

  "Well," said Clavering, "it is quite a long while now since I was able towalk alone."

  Hetty shook her bridle, and the Badger started at a trot; but when MissSchuyler followed, Clavering, who fancied that her prediction would befulfilled, also set off at a run. He was, however, not quite fast enough,for when he reached her Miss Schuyler was sitting in the snow. Sheappeared to be unpleasantly shaken and her lips were quivering. Claveringhelped her to her feet, and then caught the horse.

  "The wretched thing turned round and slid me off," she said, when he cameback with it, pointing to the rug.

  Clavering tugged at the extemporized girth. "I am afraid you can only tryagain. I don't think it will slip now," he said.

  Miss Schuyler, who had evidently lost her nerve, mounted with difficultyand after trotting for some minutes pulled up once more, and was sittingstill looking about her hopelessly when Clavering rejoined her.

  "I am very sorry, but I really can't hold on," she said.

  Clavering glanced at the prairie, and Hetty looked at him. Nothing movedupon all the empty plain which was fading to a curious dusky blue.Darkness crept up across it from the east, and a last faint patch oforange was dying out on its western rim, while with the approaching nightthere came a stinging cold.

  "It might be best if you rode on, Miss Torrance, and sent a sleigh backfor us," he said. "Walk your horse, Miss Schuyler, and I'll keep closebeside you. If you fell I could catch you."

  Hetty's face was anxious, but she shook her head. "No, it was my fault,and I mean to see it through," she said. "You couldn't keep catching herall the time, you know. I'm not made of eider-down, and she's a good dealheavier than me. It really is a pity you can't ride, Flo."

  "Nevertheless," said Miss Schuyler tartly, "I can't--without a saddle--andI'm quite thankful I can't drive."

  Hetty said nothing, and they went on in silence, until when a dusky bluffappeared on the skyline, Clavering, taking the bridle, led Miss Schuyler'shorse into a forking trail.

  "This is not the way to Allonby's," said Hetty.

  "No," said Clavering quietly. "I'm afraid you would be frozen before yougot there. The homestead-boys who chop their fuel in the bluff have,however, some kind of shelter, and I'll make you a big fire."

  "But----" said Hetty.

  Clavering checked her with a gesture. "Please let me fix this thing foryou," he said. "It is getting horribly cold already."

  They went on a trifle faster without another word, and presently, withcrackle of dry twigs beneath them, plodded into the bush. Dim treesflitted by them, branches brushed them as they passed, and the stillnessand shadowiness affected Miss Schuyler uncomfortably. She started with acry when there was a sharp patter amidst the dusty snow; but Clavering'shand was on the bridle as the horse, snorting, flung up its head.

  "I think it was only a jack-rabbit; and I can see the shelter now," hesaid.

  A few moments later he helped Miss Schuyler down, and held out his hand toHetty, who sprang stiffly to the ground. Then, with numbed fingers, hebroke off and struck a sulphur match, and the feeble flame showed therefuge to which he had brought them. It was just high enough to stand in,and had three sides and a roof of birch logs, but the front was open andthe soil inside it frozen hard as adamant. An axe and a saw stood in acorner, and there was a hearth heaped ready with kindling chips.

  "If you will wait here I'll try to get some wood," he said.

  He went out and tethered the horses, and when his footsteps died away,Miss Schuyler shivering crept closer to Hetty, who flung an arm abouther.

  "It's awful, Flo--and it's my fault," she said. Then she sighed. "It wouldall be so different if Larry was only here."

  "Still," said Flora Schuyler, "Mr. Clavering has really behaved very well;most men would have shown just a little temper."

  "I almost wish he had--it would have been so much easier for me to havekept mine and overlooked it graciously. Flo, I didn't mean to bedisagreeable, but it's quite hard to be pleasant when one is in thewrong."

  It was some time before Clavering came back with an armful of birchbranches, and a suspiciously reddened gash in one of his moccasins--for anaxe ground as the Michigan man grinds it is a dangerous tool for anyonenot trained to it to handle in the dark. In ten minutes he had a greatfire blazing, and the shivering girls felt their spirits revive a littleunder the cheerful light and warmth. Then, he made a seat of the branchesclose in to the hearth and glanced at them anxiously.

  "If you keep throwing wood on, and sit there with the furs wrapped roundyou, you will be able to keep the cold out until I come back," he said.

  "Until you come back!" said Hetty, checking a little cry of dismay. "Whereare you going?"

  "To bring a sleigh."

  "But Allonby's is nearly eight miles away. You could not leave us herethree hours."

  "No," said Clavering gravely. "You would be very cold by then. Still, youneed not be anxious. Nothing can hurt you here; and I will come, or sendsomebody for you, before long."

  Hetty sat very still while he drew on the fur mittens he had removed tomake the fire. Then, she rose suddenly.

  "No," she said. "It was my fault--and we cannot let you go."

  Clavering smiled. "I am afraid your wishes wouldn't go quite as far inthis case as they generally do with me. You and Miss Schuyler can't stayhere until I could get a sleigh from Allonby's."

  He turned as he spoke, and was almost out of the shanty before Hetty,stepping forward, laid her hand upon his arm.

  "Now I know," she said. "It is less than three miles to Muller's, but thehomestead-boys would make you a prisoner if you went there. Can't you seethat would be horrible for Flo and me? It was my wilfulness that made thetrouble."

  Clavering very gently shook off her grasp, and Miss Schuyler almostadmired him as he stood looking down upon her companion with theflickering firelight on his face. It was a striking face, and the smile inthe dark eyes became it. Clavering had shaken off his furs, and theclose-fitting jacket of dressed deerskin displayed his lean symmetry, forhe had swung round in the entrance to the shanty and the shadows wereblack behind him.

  "I think the fault was mine. I should not have been afraid of displeasingyou, which is what encourages me to be obstinate now," he said. "Oneshould never make wild guesses, should they, Miss Schuyler?"

  He had gone before Hetty could speak again, and a few moments later thegirls heard a thud of hoofs as a horse passed at a gallop through thewood. They stood looking at each other until the sound died away, and onlya little doleful wind that sighed amidst the birches and the snapping ofthe fire disturbed the silence. Then, Hetty sat down and drew MissSchuyler down beside her.

  "Flo," she said, with a little quiver in her voice, "what is the use of agirl like me? I seem bound to make trouble for everybody."

  "It is not an unusual complaint, especially when one is as pretty as youare," said Miss Schuyler. "Though I must confess I don't quite understandwhat you are afraid of, Hetty."

  "No?" said Hetty. "You never do seem to understand anything, Flo. If hegoes to Muller's the homestead-boys, who are as fond of him as they are ofpoison, might shoot him, and he almost deserves it. No, of course, afterwhat he is doing for us, I don't mean that. It is the meanness that is inme makes me look for faults in everybody. He was almost splendid--and hehas left his furs for us--but he mayn't come back at all. Oh, it'shorrible!"

  Hetty's voice grew indistinct, and Flora Schuyler drew the furs closerabout them, and slipped an arm round her waist. She began to feel the coldagain, and the loneliness more, while, even when she closed her eyes, shecould not shut out the menacing darkness in front of her. Miss Schuylerwas from the cities, and it was not her fault that, while she possessedsufficient courage of a kind, she shrank from the perils of thewilderness. She would have found silence trying, but the vague soundsoutsid
e, to which she could attach no meaning, were more difficult tobear. So she started when a puff of wind set the birch twigs rattling orsomething stirred the withered leaves, and once or twice a creaking branchsent a thrill of apprehension through her and she almost fancied that evilfaces peered at her from the square gap of blackness. Now and then, a wispof pungent smoke curled up and filled her eyes, and little by little shedrew nearer to the fire with a physical craving for the warmth of it andan instinctive desire to be surrounded by its brightness, until Hettyshook her roughly by the arm.

  "Flo," she said, "you are making me almost as silly as you are, and thatcapote--it's the prettiest I have seen you put on--is burning. Sit still,or I'll pinch you--hard."

  Hetty's grip had a salutary effect, and Miss Schuyler, shaking off hervague terrors, smiled a trifle tremulously.

  "I wish you would," she said. "Your fingers are real, any way. I can'thelp being foolish, Hetty--and is the thing actually burning?"

  Hetty laughed. "I guessed that would rouse you--but it is," she said. "Ihave made my mind up, Flo. If he doesn't come in an hour or so, we'll goto Muller's, too."

  Miss Schuyler was by no means sure that this would please her, but shesaid nothing and once more there was a silence she found it difficult tobear.

  In the meanwhile, Clavering, whose foot pained him, was urging the Badgerto his utmost pace. He rode without saddle or stirrups, which, however,was no great handicap to anyone who had spent the time he had in thecattle country, and, though it was numbingly cold and he had left his fursbehind him, scarcely felt the frost, for his brain was busy. He knew HettyTorrance, and that what he had done would count for much with her; butthat was not what had prompted him to make the somewhat perilous venture.Free as he was in his gallantries, he was not without the chivalrousdaring of the South his fathers came from, and Hetty was of his own caste.She, at least, would have been sure of deference from him, and, perhaps,have had little cause for complaint had he married her. Of late theadmiration he felt for her was becoming tinged with a genuine respect.

  He knew that the homesteaders, who had very little cause to love him, werein a somewhat dangerous mood just then, but that was of no great moment tohim. He had a cynical contempt for them, and a pride which would have madehim feel degraded had he allowed any fear of what they might do toinfluence him. He had also, with less creditable motives, found himself indifficult positions once or twice already, and his quickly arrogantfearlessness had enabled him to retire from them without bodily hurt orloss of dignity.

  The lights of Muller's homestead rose out of the prairie almost before heexpected to see them, and a few minutes later he rode at a gallop up tothe door. It opened before he swung himself down, for the beat of hoofshad carried far, and when he stood in the entrance, slightly dazed by thewarmth and light, there was a murmur of wonder.

  "Clavering!" said somebody, and a man he could not clearly see laid a handon his shoulder.

  He shook the grasp off contemptuously, moved forward a pace or two, andthen sat down blinking about him. Muller sat by the stove, a big pipe inhand, looking at him over his spectacles. His daughter stood behind himknitting tranquilly, though there was a shade more colour than usual inher cheeks, and a big, grim-faced man stood at the end of the room withone hand on a rifle that hung on the wall. Clavering instinctively glancedover his shoulder, and saw that another man now stood with his back to thedoor.

  "You have come alone?" asked the latter.

  "Oh, yes," said Clavering unconcernedly. "You might put my horse in, oneof you. If I could have helped it, I would not have worried you, but mysleigh got damaged and Miss Torrance and another lady are freezing in theBitter Creek bluff, and I know you don't hurt women."

  "No," said the man dropping his hand from the rifle, with a littleunpleasant laugh. "We haven't got that far yet, though your folks arestarving them."

  "Well," said Clavering, "I'm going to ask you to send a sledge and drivethem back to Cedar or on to Allonby's."

  The men exchanged glances. "It's a trick," said one.

  "So!" said Muller. "Der ambuscade. Lotta, you ride to Fremont, und Larrybring. I show you how when we have drubbles mit der franc tireurs we fixder thing."

  Clavering exclaimed impatiently. "You have no time for fooling when thereare two women freezing in the bluff. Would I have come here, knowing youcould do what you liked with me, if I had meant any harm to you?"

  "That's sense, any way," said one of the men. "I guess if he was playingany trick, one of us would be quite enough to get even with him. You'lltake Truscott with you, Muller, and get out the bob-sled."

  Muller nodded gravely. "I go," he said. "Lotta, you der big kettle fillbefore you ride for Larry. We der bob-sled get ready."

  "You are not going to be sorry," said Clavering. "This thing will pay youbetter than farming."

  The man by the door turned with a hard laugh. "Well," he said, "I guesswe'd feel mean for ever if we took a dollar from you!"

  Clavering ignored the speech. "Do you want me?" he said, glancing atMuller.

  "No," said the man, who now took down the rifle from the wall. "Not justyet. You're going to stop right where you are. The boys can do without me,and I'll keep you company."

  Ten minutes later the others drove away, and, with a significant gesture,Clavering's companion laid the rifle across his knees.