CHAPTER XI
It was fortunate that Helen had accustomed herself to long rides, asotherwise she could not have undergone the experiences of the next fewhours in the saddle. All semblance of a trail seemed to end a mile or sobeyond the camp. The ride became a succession of scrambles acrosstreacherous slides of shale, succeeded by plunges into apparentlyimpenetrable walls of underbrush and low-hanging trees. The generalcourse of the river was followed. At times they had climbed to such aheight that the stream was merely a white line beneath them, and itsvoice could not be heard. Then they would descend and cross and recrossthe stream. The wild plunges across the torrent became matters oftorture to Helen. The horses slipped on the boulders. Water dashed overthe girl's knees, and each ford became more difficult, as the streambecame more swollen, owing to the melting of near-by snowbanks. One ofthe pack-horses fell and lay helplessly in the stream until it wasfairly dragged to its feet. The men cursed volubly as they worked overthe animal and readjusted the wet pack, which had slipped to one side.
After an hour or two of travel the half-breed took Talpers's place inthe lead, the trader bringing up the rear behind Helen and thepack-horses. Two bald mountain-peaks began to loom startlingly near. Thestream ran between the peaks, being fed by the snows on either slope. Asthe altitude became more pronounced the horses struggled harder at theirwork. The white horse was showing the stamina that was in him. Helenurged him to his task, knowing the folly of attempting to thwart thewishes of her captors. They passed a slope where a forest fire had sweptin years gone by. Wild raspberry bushes had grown in profusion among theblack, sentinel-like trunks of dead trees. The bushes tore herriding-suit and scratched her hands, but she uttered no complaint.
Under any other circumstances Helen would have found much in the ride toovercome its discomforts. The majesty of the scenery impressed itselfupon her mind, troubled as she was. Silence wrapped the two great peakslike a mantle. An eagle swung lazily in midair between the granitespires. Here was another plane of existence where the machinations ofmen seemed to matter little. Almost indifferent to her discomforts Helenstruggled on, mechanically keeping her place in line. The half-breedlooked back occasionally, and even went so far as to take her horse bythe bridle and help the animal up an unusually hard slope.
When it became apparent that further progress was an impossibilityunless the pack-horses were abandoned, the half-breed turned aside, and,after a final desperate scramble up the mountain-side, the party entereda fairly open, level glade. Helen dismounted with the others.
"We're goin' to camp here for a while," announced Talpers, after a shortwhispered conference with the half-breed. "You might as well makeyourself as comfortable as you can, but remember one thing--you'll beshot if you try to get away or if you make any signals."
Helen leaned back against a tree-trunk, too weary to make answer, andTalpers went to the assistance of McFann, who was taking off the packsand saddles. The horses were staked out near at hand, where they couldget their fill of the luxuriant grass that carpeted the mountain-sidehere. McFann brought water from a spring near at hand, and the traderset out some food from one of the packs, though it was decided not tobuild a fire to cook anything. Helen ate biscuits and bacon left fromthe previous meal. While she was eating, McFann put up the little tent.Then, after another conference with Talpers, the half-breed climbed arock which jutted out of the shoulder of the mountain not far from them.His lithe figure was silhouetted against the reddening sky. Helenwondered, as she looked up at him, if the rock had been used forsentinel purposes in years gone by. Her reflections were broken in uponby Talpers.
"That tent is yours," said the trader, in a low voice. "But before youturn in I've got a few words to say to you. You haven't seemed to be asmuch afraid of me on this trip as you was the other night at yourcabin."
"There's no reason why I should be," said Helen quietly. "You don't dareharm me for several reasons."
"What are they?" sneered Talpers.
"Well, one reason is--Jim McFann. All I have to do to cause yourpartnership to dissolve at once is to tell Jim that you found that moneyon the man who was murdered and didn't divide."
Talpers winced.
"Furthermore, this business has practically made an outlaw of you. Itall depends on your treatment of me. I'm the collateral that may get youback into the good graces of society."
Talpers wiped the sweat beads off his forehead.
"You don't want to be too sure of yourself," he growled, though with somuch lack of assurance that Helen was secretly delighted. "You want toremember," went on the trader threateningly, "that any time we want toput a bullet in you, we can make our getaway easy enough. The only thingfor you to do is to keep quiet and see that you mind orders."
Talpers ended the interview hastily when McFann came down from the rock.The men talked together, after shutting Helen in the tent andreiterating that she would be watched and that the first attempt toescape would be fatal. Helen flung herself down on the blankets andwatched the fading lights of evening as they were reflected on thecanvas. She could hear the low voices of Talpers and McFann, hardlydistinguishable from the slight noises made by the wind in the trees.The moon cast the shadows of branches on the canvas, and the noise ofthe stream, far below, came fitfully to Helen's ears. She was more atease in mind than at any other time since Jim McFann had confronted herwith his rifle over his arm. She felt that Talpers was the moving spiritin her kidnaping. She did not know how near her knowledge of thetrader's implication in the Dollar Sign tragedy had brought her todeath. Nor did she know that Talpers's rage over Jim McFann's weakeninghad been so great that the trader had nearly snatched up his rifle andshot his partner dead when the half-breed brought Helen into camp.
As a matter of fact, when Talpers had realized that Jim McFann hadfailed in his mission of assassination, the trader had been consumedwith alternate rage and fear. A kidnaping had been the last thing in theworld in the trader's thoughts. Assassination, with some one else doingthe work, was much the better way. Running off with womenfolk could notbe made a profitable affair, but here was the girl thrown into his handsby fate. It would not do to let her go. Perhaps a way out of the messcould be thought over. McFann could be made to bear the brunt in someway. Meantime the best thing to do was to get as far into the hills aspossible. McFann could outwit the Indian police. He had been doing itright along. He had fooled them during long months of bootlegging. Sincehis escape from jail the police had redoubled their efforts to captureMcFann, but he had gone right on fooling them. If worst came to worst,McFann and he could make their getaway alone, first putting the girlwhere she would never tell what she knew about them. Across themountains there was a little colony of law-breakers that had long beenafter Talpers as a leader. He had helped them in a good many ways, theseoutlaws, particularly in rustling cattle from the reservation herds. Itwas Bill Talpers who had evolved the neat little plan of changing the IDbrand of the Interior Department to the "two-pole pumpkin" brand, whichwas done merely by extending another semicircle to the left of the "I"and connecting that letter and the "D" at top and bottom, thus makingtwo perpendicular lines in a flattened circle.
The returns from his interest in the gang's rustling operations had beenfar more than Bill had ever secured from his store. In fact,storekeeping was played out. Bill never would have kept it up except forthe opportunity it gave him to find out what was going on. To be sure,he should have played safe and kept away from such things as that affairon the Dollar Sign road. But he could have come clear even there if ithad not been for the uncanny knowledge possessed by that girl. Thethought of what would happen if she took a notion to tell McFann how hehad been "double-crossed" by his partner gave Talpers somethingapproaching a chill. The half-breed was docile enough as long as hethought he was being fairly dealt with. But once let him find out thathe had been unfairly treated, all the Indian in him would come to thesurface with a rush! Fortunately the girl was proving herself to beclose-mouthed. She had traveled for hours with the h
alf-breed withouttelling him of Talpers's perfidy. Now Bill would see to it that she gotno chance to talk with McFann. The half-breed was too tender-heartedwhere women were concerned. That much had been proved when he had fallendown in the matter of the work he had been sent out to do. If she had achance the girl might even persuade him to let her escape, which was notgoing to do at all. If anybody was to be left holding the sack at theend of the adventure, it would not be Bill Talpers!
With various stratagems being brought to mind, only to be rejected oneafter another, Talpers watched the tent until midnight, the half-breedsleeping near at hand. Then Bill turned in while McFann kept watch. Asfor Helen, she slept the sleep of exhaustion until wakened by the touchof daylight on the canvas.
With senses preternaturally sharpened, as they generally are duringone's first hours in the wilderness, Helen listened. She heard Talpersstirring about among the horses. It was evident that he was alarmedabout something, as he was pulling the picket-pins and bringing theanimals closer to the center of the glade. McFann had been looking downthe valley from the sentinel rock. She did not hear him come into camp,as the half-breed always moved silently through underbrush that wouldbetray the presence of any one less skilled in woodcraft. She heard hismonosyllabic answers to Talpers's questions. Then Bill himself pushedhis way through the underbrush and climbed the rock. When he returned tothe camp he came to the tent.
"I don't mind tellin' you that Plenty Buffalo is out there on the trail,with an Injun policeman or two. That young agent don't seem to have hadnerve enough to come along," said Talpers, producing a small rope. "I'llhave to tie your hands awhile, just to make sure you don't try gittin'away. I'm goin' to tell 'em that at the first sign of rushin' the campyou're goin' to be shot. What's more I'm goin' to mean what I tell 'em."
Talpers tied Helen's hands behind her. He left the flaps of the tentopen as he picked up his rifle and returned to McFann, who was sittingon a log, composedly enough, keeping watch of the other end of the gladewhere the trail entered. Helen sank to her knees, with her back to therear of the tent, so she could command a better view. The tent had beenstaked down securely around the edges, so there was no opportunity forher to crawl under.
Apparently the two men in the glade, as Helen saw them through theinverted V of the open tent flaps, were most peacefully inclined. Theysat smoking and talking, and, from all outward appearances, might havebeen two hunters talking over the day's prospects. Suddenly they sprangto their feet, and, with rifles in readiness, looked toward the trail,which was hidden from Helen's vision.
"Don't come any nearer, Plenty Buffalo," called Talpers, in Indianlanguage. "If you try to rush the camp, the first thing we'll do is tokill this girl. The only thing for you to do is to go back."
Then followed a short colloquy, Helen being unable to hear PlentyBuffalo's voice.
Evidently he was well down the trail, hidden in the trees, and wasmaking no further effort to approach. The men sat down again, watchingthe trail and evidently figuring out their plan of escape. There was nomeans of scaling the mountain wall behind them. Horses could notpossibly climb that steep slope, covered with such a tangle of trees andundergrowth, but it was possible to proceed farther along the upper edgeof the valley until finally timber-line was reached, after which theparty could drop over the divide into the happy little kingdom just offthe reservation where a capable man with the branding-iron was alwayswelcome and where the authorities never interfered.
Helen listened for another call from Plenty Buffalo, but the minutesdragged past and no summons came. The silence of the forest becamealmost unbearable. The men sat uneasily, casting occasional glances backat the tent, and making sure that Helen was remaining quiet. FinallyPlenty Buffalo called again. There was another brief parley and Talpersrenewed his threats. While the talk was going on, Helen heard a slightnoise behind her. Turning her head, she saw the point of a knife cuttinga long slit in the back of the tent. Then Fire Bear's dark face peeredin through the opening. The Indian's long brown arm reached forth andthe bonds at Helen's wrists were cut. The arm disappeared through theslit in the canvas, beckoning as it did so. Helen backed slowly towardthe opening that had been made.
The talk between Plenty Buffalo and Talpers was still going on. Helenwaited until both men had glanced around at her. Then, as they turnedtheir heads once more toward Plenty Buffalo's hiding-place, she halfleaped, half fell through the opening in the tent. A strong hand kepther from falling and guided her swiftly through the underbrush back ofthe tent. Her face was scratched by the bushes that swung back as thehalf-naked Indian glided ahead of her, but, in almost miraculousfashion, she found a traversable path opened. Torn and bleeding, sheflung herself behind a rock, just as a shout from the camp told that herdisappearance had been discovered. There was a crashing of pursuersthrough the underbrush, but a gun roared a warning, almost in Helen'sear.
The shot was fired by Lowell, who, hatless and with torn clothing, hadfollowed Fire Bear within a short distance of the camp. Helen crouchedagainst the rock, while Lowell stood over her firing into the foresttangle. Fire Bear stood nonchalantly beside Lowell. Helen noticed,wonderingly, that there was not a scratch on the Indian's nakedshoulders, yet Lowell's clothes were torn, and blood dripped from hispalms where he had followed Fire Bear along the seemingly impassable wayback of the camp.
One or two answering shots were fired, but evidently Talpers and hiscompanion were afraid of an attack by Plenty Buffalo, so no pursuit wasattempted.
The Indian turned, and, motioning for Lowell and Helen to follow,disappeared in the undergrowth along the trail which he and the agenthad made while Plenty Buffalo was attracting the attention of Talpersand the half-breed. Helen tried to rise, but the sudden ending of themental strain proved unnerving. She leaned against the rock with hereyes closed and her body limp. Lowell lifted her to her feet, almostroughly. For a moment she stood with Lowell's arms about her and hiskisses on her face. Her whiteness alarmed him.
"Tell me you haven't been harmed," he cried. "If you have--"
"Just these scratches and a good riding-suit in tatters," she answered,as she drew away from him with a reassuring smile.
Lowell's brow cleared, and he laughed gleefully, as he picked up hisrifle.
"Well, there's just one more hard scramble ahead," he replied, "andperhaps some more tatters to add to what both of us have. I'd carry you,but the best I can do is to help you over some of the more difficultplaces. Fire Bear has started. Have you strength enough to try tofollow?"
He led her along the trail taken by Fire Bear--a trail in name only. TheIndian had waited for them a few yards away. How much he had seen andheard when Lowell held her in his arms Helen could only surmise, but thethought sent the blood into her cheeks with a rush.
It was as Lowell had said--another scramble. At times it seemed as ifshe could not go on, but always at the right time Lowell gave thenecessary help that enabled her to surmount some seemingly impassableobstacle. As for Fire Bear, he made his way over huge rocks and alongsteep pitches of shale with the ease of a serpent. At last the waybecame somewhat less difficult to traverse, and, when they came out onthe trail by the stream, Helen realized that the tax on her physicalresources was ended.
A short distance down the trail they met Plenty Buffalo with two Indianpolicemen. One of the police had been wounded in the arm by a shot fromTalpers. The trader and McFann had hurriedly packed and made theirescape, leaving the white horse, which Plenty Buffalo had brought forHelen.
After a hasty examination of the Indian's arm it was decided to hurryback to the agency for aid.
"I've sent out a call for more of the Indian police," said Lowell."They'll probably be there when we get back to the agency. We justpicked up what help we could find when we got word of yourdisappearance."
When Helen looked around for Fire Bear, the Indian had disappeared.
"We never could have done anything without Fire Bear," said Lowell, ashe swung into the saddle preparatory to the homeward ride. "H
e is thegreatest trailer I ever saw. Probably he's gone back to his camp, nowthat this interruption in his religious ceremonies is over."
Plenty Buffalo led the way back to the agency with the woundedpoliceman. Lowell had examined the man's injury and was satisfied thatit was only superficial. The policeman himself took matters with trueIndian philosophy, and galloped on with Plenty Buffalo, the mostunconcerned member of the party.
Lowell rode with Helen, letting the others go on ahead after they hadreached the open country beyond the foothills. He explained thecircumstances of the rescue--how Wong had brought a note signed "WillisMorgan," telling of Helen's disappearance. At the same time Fire Bearhad come to the agency with the news that one of his young men had seenMcFann and Helen riding toward the mountains. Fire Bear was convincedthat something was wrong and had lost no time in telling Lowell. WithPlenty Buffalo and one or two Indian policemen who happened to be at theagency, a posse was hurriedly made up. Fire Bear took the trail andfollowed it so swiftly and unerringly that the party was almost withinstriking distance of the fugitives by night-fall. A conference had beenheld, and it was decided to let Plenty Buffalo parley with Talpers andMcFann from the trail, while Fire Bear attempted the seeminglyimpossible task of entering the camp from the side toward the mountain.
Helen was silent during most of the ride to the agency. Lowell ascribedher silence to a natural reaction from the physical and mental strain ofrecent hours. After reaching the agency he saw that the woundedpoliceman was properly taken care of. Then Lowell and Helen started forthe Greek Letter Ranch in the agent's car, leaving her horse to bebrought over by one of the agency employees.
"Do you intend to go back and take up the chase for Talpers and McFann?"asked Helen.
"Of course! Just as soon as I can get more of the Indian policetogether."
"But they'll hardly be taken alive, will they?"
"Perhaps not."
"That means that blood will be shed on my account," declared Helen."I'll not have it! I don't want those men captured! What if I refuse totestify against them?"
Lowell looked at her in amazement. Then it came to him overwhelminglythat here was the murder mystery stalking between them once more, like aghost. He recalled Talpers's broad hint that Helen knew something of thecase, and that if Bill Talpers were dragged into the Dollar Sign affairthe girl at the Greek Letter Ranch would be dragged in also.
"There is no need of the outside world knowing anything about this,"went on Helen. "The Indian police do not report to any one but you, dothey?"
"No. Their lips are sealed so far as their official duties areconcerned."
"Fire Bear will have nothing to say?"
"He has probably forgotten it by this time in his religious fervor."
"Then I ask you to let these men go."
"If you will not appear against them," said Lowell, "I can't see thatanything will be gained by bringing them in. But probably it would be agood thing to exterminate them on the tenable ground that they aregeneral menaces to the welfare of society."
The girl's troubled expression returned.
"On one condition I will send word to Talpers that he may return," wenton Lowell. "That condition is that you rescind your order excluding mefrom the Greek Letter Ranch. If Talpers comes back I've got to beallowed to drop around to see that you are not spirited away."
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