"Mrs. Ford!" she muttered bitterly to herself, "and he told me he loved me!"
At that very moment a bedraggled pack train was winding its way down into the Basin from Grimes Pass, four men and one woman, right into the new hotbed of Henry Plummer and his gang. Had Dixie known this fact and that Bob was staking his life on finding her, she would have gone to any length to warn him. As it was, he was riding right into a well-devised trap meant to eliminate him once for all.
* * * *
That night in the Bannock Saloon a mass meeting of all the miners in town was held. Plummer, with his smooth tongue and affable ways, had won the men over. He was now dressed in a long-tailed black suit, white shirt, and polished boots. He had shaved, and recurled his mustache, which made him the outstanding figure in camp. He made a speech, the first one in his life for law and order, explaining that it was necessary for them, as law-abiding citizens, to protect themselves against lawlessness.
"Already," he roared eloquently, "we have had murder in camp! There are half a dozen new graves in the graveyard on the hill! All of these have been the result of robbery and claim-jumping!"
There was general applause following this remark. He waited for them to quiet. "We know the history of other camps in this great Territory: Florence, Elk City, Oro Fino, Virginia City, and Lewiston; they have run red with the blood of honest citizens! We Secessionists, Democrats, stand for something bigger and better than this!" The applause was almost deafening. "What I propose is that we appoint a sheriff over all this territory from the Bitterroot Mountains east. Let him appoint as many deputies as he sees fit to insure peace by the extermination of the law-breakers! The miners themselves, in their meetings, shall be the court and judges, and shall determine what shall be done to offenders."
There were cheers of assent. The rules of formal election were suspended and Henry Plummer was made sheriff by acclamation. Thus was instituted one of the most dastardly plots in the history of the United States, against the honest miners and men whose lives and fortunes were at stake for the establishment of real law and order in the building of a great empire.
It was Plummer's heyday and he made the most of it. "Everything's free tonight, boys!" he called lustily. "Come up to the bar and name it! Hen Plummer, the new sheriff of Bannock, is setting them up!"
With the coming of John Thomas, Bannock City could already boast of its dancehall girls. He was putting up a hall only two doors south, and he gladly donated the girls for the grand occasion.
The test of the sheriff's power came quickly upon the heels of his appointment. It happened in the middle of a dance, when a man known as Pegleg, a crippled miner, discovered one of the men who had jumped his claim the week before, and pulled his gun and shot him. It didn't kill the offender outright, but for the moment it broke up the party until they could remove the wounded man and the sheriff could take Pegleg into custody.
A miners' meeting was quickly called and Pegleg was tried. They had all witnessed the shooting, of course, but they made the most of the case. Pegleg was charged with shooting Smokehouse Green with intent to commit murder.
Pegleg didn't deny it, but went to some length to explain how he had staked a rich claim, and while he was there alone preparing to work it, this man Smokehouse ordered him off at the point of a gun and warned him never to return.
"I went back two days later," Pegleg explained, "but there was three men with guns out waitin' fer me. I didn't see this feller again till tonight."
The case closed and the miners went into discussion. Pegleg was found guilty and given twenty-four hours to get out of town. He was to be given rations for two weeks.
The sheriff saw to it that the order was carried out right then. He had the cook prepare the small grubstake. Then, before all those present, he escorted Pegleg to the door, handed him the grubstake and told him to get out of camp. As he limped off down the street Plummer told him to make tracks fast, that after tonight he would shoot him on sight.
After the celebration was over that night Plummer called his men together in the saloon and appointed ten deputies, the first of whom was Three Finger Smith, and gave them instructions to watch for undesirable citizens. There could be no question that they would carry out his wishes. The cut was to be the same, with the added protection of the power in force.
This appointment was naturally to produce fear and woe to the enemies of Henry Plummer.
Plummer made his headquarters at the new Hotel Bannock, and ruled with an iron hand, defying all protests of the real law-abiding citizens. He openly flaunted his authority. Men were afraid of his power and suffered in silent anger. Henry Plummer was virtually dictator of the great Bannock Territory.
20
BOB BAINBRIDGE AND HIS COMPANY MADE CAMP at the head of the Basin. They had lost four of their pack mules in a slide, and they had been glad enough to stop. After the first night Shorty and Bob reconnoitered in the neighboring territory. It looked a likely spot to them to winter, and prospecting would be as good here as any place. Both were enthusiastic about the possibilities.
On their way back to camp they came onto the first placer claim. An old man, possibly sixty, was panning down by the little creek when they rode up. He looked up at them without a word, then turned back to the business of rocking his gold pan.
The partners got down and looked over his shoulder. As the coarse gravel was washed out of the pan a bright streak of yellow gold followed the rim of the pan. There were nuggets, too, from the size of a match head to the size of a pea.
"Where's your claim, partner?" Bob asked with a quickening stir of his blood.
The man turned up his bearded face to them. "The corner stake sticks right there. Yuh can find the other stakes, but I'll shoot the first 'un touches one of 'em! My name's Bridger, an' I means what I says!"
"Don't be afraid, partner," Bob assured him, "we only wanted to know so we wouldn't trespass. We're going to be neighbors."
The old man turned back to his panning. Bob and Shorty staked their claims and one for each of the others in their party, including Daisy, then headed for camp. They picked out a site for the cabins where the logs would be handiest.
"Now, Shorty," said Bob, "after dinner I'm riding down the Basin a ways to have a look. I've got to know if Dixie is here. I can't stand it to be within reach of her and not know where she is."
Shorty shook his head. "I dunno, podner. I ain't blamin' yuh none, but it'd be a fool idee fer yuh tuh go traipsin' down there alone. If yuh ain't objectin' I'll jest trail along."
"But there's a lot of work to be done, Shorty. I'll be all right, and Daisy needs you. She's dead tired."
"Wal, I guess yuh'll never git on tuh yore pegs till yuh find her. But don't fergit that soon's yuh do the Plummer Gang'll find out we're here, an' war is shore tuh start, maybe afore we're ready."
"Say, Shorty, you cantankerous, bow-legged little rat, you're getting to be a regular old woman. I've been inactive so long I'd welcome a little excitement. I'd sure be happy to run into Plummer or Three Finger today. It's got to come, and we know it. What's the good of putting it off?"
"All right! All right! I'm a old woman if yuh says so! But hell's bells! I don't want tuh see yuh git yore pelt hung on a pole fence afore yuh gits a fair chance! I knows iffen yuh gits a break they ain't a man in the west kin beat yuh tuh the draw."
"Easy with the salve, Shorty. You're my partner, but nothing in the world can keep me from Dixie if I can find her."
The more Bob pondered, and the more Shorty argued, the more determined Bob became to start an immediate search for Dixie. It seemed like an eternity since he had seen her. Coupled with that was the agonizing thought that she probably despised him now. Undoubtedly she would think that he was at the bottom of the dastardly deed that destroyed the shebang. The inactivity was galling him beyond endurance. Anything was better than the uncertainty of her attitude towards him.
"I know how you feel, Bob," sympathized Daisy. "When a man cottons to a gal,
everything else dims down. Only, be careful till you get the lay of things. I got an idea. You know Plummer and his gang know you, but they don't know Shorty nor Jim. Why not let them go in first and make a search? They wouldn't be so likely to be suspected."
Bob shook his head. "It isn't likely that they'd recognize me with this beard of mine, Daisy. Anyway, it's my personal fight and I'm going to see it through. I'd rather be dead than be in this state of mind all the time! No sir, gal, I've got to break loose!"
Daisy thrilled at his words. She couldn't help admiring such tenacity. She knew Shorty would be like that if she were in danger.
Pete offered to go along, but Bob flatly refused. "You fellows can sharpen up the axes and begin cutting logs for the cabins while I'm gone," he suggested. "I'll be back when you see me. I'm going to see what the other end of this Basin looks like."
No one of his friends protested further. After all, it was his affair, and nothing could deter him from his purpose, though he might be walking into a steel trap. With foreboding in their hearts they watched him until he passed out of sight in the clearing.
For some time he followed the well-beaten trail. As he rode his heart pounded with the thought that somewhere, perhaps within a mile or two, he would find Dixie. The cold sweat broke out on his forehead at the thought of what might have happened to her.
He straightened up in the saddle in time to see a man scramble for the brush. He jerked up his horse, at the same time reaching for his holster.
"Come out!" he commanded, "before I blow daylight through you!"
To his surprise a whimpering peg-legged man emerged with a small bundle on his arm.
"I reckon yuh be one o' them deputy sheriffs lookin' fer me? Yuh couldn't wait fer me tuh git out o' the country. Well, shoot an' let's git shet o' this business!"
"You've got me wrong, stranger," Bob answered. "I'm peaceable enough. What's happened? What's all this talk about deputy sheriffs?"
The man sighed with relief and leaned against a tree. "Wal, the miners had a meetin' last night an' appointed a sheriff tuh enforce law and order in this country east o' the Bitterroot. They shore got me, an' fer shootin' a no-count skunk that jumped my claim! The miners' meetin' said I was guilty o' shootin' Smokehouse with intent tuh kill him, an' I shore as hell did! Plummer, the new sheriff--"
"Wait!" Bob's voice startled the man. "My God, say that again slow! They didn't make Plummer sheriff?"
"Shore did, stranger, or I'm a ringtailed liar. He give me this snack an' tol' me tuh git out o' the country."
Bob's lips had formed into a straight hard line. He couldn't believe his own ears. If this was so, Plummer would have an army of deputies of his own gang to carry on their war against honest citizens. He saw it all in a flash. This Judas had deceived them and was betraying the honest miners into the hands of a band of murderers and robbers. He realized that this put an added and dangerous light upon his own case. Plummer, the head of the worst gang of cutthroats who ever infested the West, was dictator of law in the great Bannock Territory, and he could call a hundred men to his aid any moment he chose.
"Go on up to my camp a mile or so. Tell them Bob Bainbridge sent you. And stay there. You can't get out of the country. It would mean death."
At mention of Bob's name, Pegleg's mouth dropped open in surprise and admiration. "Not Pokerface Bob, the Vigilante?" he asked in wonder.
"No!" Bob thundered angrily. "Pokerface Bob, the outlaw!" As he spoke he gave his horse the spurs and rode straight ahead, never so much as looking back.
He was filled with impotent fury. If it was the last thing he ever did he would get a close-up view of things. After all, Plummer had seen him but once, and that was when Ford was murdered. It was possible the man would not recognize him now with his full black beard. If he did, so much the better. They would settle things once for all.
As he rode on his better judgment came to the fore. He wanted Three Finger Smith first, but he didn't want to get either of them until he found Dixie and knew that she was safe.
He presently came out on the point of a ridge overlooking the new Bannock City, the nucleus of the new empire. A surprising lot of cabins had been built, and Bob could hear the continual chopping in the timber as men worked feverishly on their cabins. As he sat there in his saddle, he realized for the first time that he was not ready to begin an offensive. He could not beat a hundred men single-handed.
It looked mighty discouraging, but he had always held to the belief that where there was a will there was a way. Of course the present condition of affairs forbade his inquiring about John Lee or his daughter. In fact, he would have to keep dark until later, after winter had set in and no more men could get over the trail. This might deceive them into thinking that he had not followed. They might relax their vigilant search for him. It would be a galling wait. It hurt his pride to have to work under cover, but it was the only plan that offered the least bit of success. At that, the prospects were a hundred to one against him.
Having made up his mind to the fundamentals of his future plans he went on a quarter of a mile. Through the trees he could see a little one-room cabin perched up on the slope of a hill. He left the main trail and headed into the timber back of the cabin, where he waited until darkness came. He proposed to investigate that cabin before returning to camp, and he would continue to investigate every cabin in Bannock Territory until he found the right one.
He tied his horse in the thicket and crept closer to the log hut. Satisfying himself that there was no one about the house or yard he straightened up and walked to the door. He knocked. No sound came from within. He knocked again. He heard stealthy footsteps coming toward the door.
"Is that you, John?"
Her voice! Was the ringing in his ears caused from that rapid drumming of his heart? His Dixie at last!
"Dixie!" he called anxiously. "Don't be afraid, Dixie! I'm a friend! Don't you know me, Dixie?"
He felt that ages passed in the silence that followed. Why didn't she speak? Then the door opened ever so slightly and her face peered through.
"You are mistaken!" she answered coldly. "You mean I was your friend! I have nothing to say to a cheat--a double crosser! Be on your way, Bob Bainbridge, before the deputies catch you here!"
"But, Dixie, please! I can explain! I "
"I hate you! I hate you!" She was half crying. "It would be good if they did finish you!" The door slammed and the lock went home.
He pounded on the door angrily. "Dixie! Dixie!" he demanded desperately. "Don't turn me away without a chance to explain! There was a great mistake!"
He waited for a reply, but when none came he turned away. "Well," he muttered dejectedly, "if she feels that way, there's no use." Then, after a moment, he remembered that she was crying when she slammed the door. But then a girl's tears were always close to the surface--a great convenience.
In his benumbed state of mind he threw all precaution aside and rode straight to the main trail. He had gone about two hundred yards when he came suddenly face to face with two horsemen. They halted him.
"Who are yuh, stranger, and what was yuh doin' up tuh that cabin?" one of them commanded.
"None of your damned business!" Bob retorted. "Who are you?"
"Yoah talking tuh John Lee and Brad Dugan, deputy sheriffs!"
"Deputy sheriffs--like hell!" he laughed dangerously. "Get on, you four-flushers. I know you! In about one second I'll split you both wide open!"
It was a dangerous thing for Bob to do, and had his mind not been so inflamed he would have used greater precaution.
For a moment the deputies seemed to be weighing the possibilities. "Wait till Sheriff Plummer heahs of this!" Lee warned as they rode on, leaving Bob standing in the trail watching them.
Then he darted away toward camp, aware that he had blundered, and that that blunder would draw fire from the Plummer authorities. He knew they would seek him out. They would discern his camp; would submit Daisy to rapid fire questioning to learn h
is identity, if indeed Lee had not recognized his voice.
The men were all seated around the campfire when he arrived.
"Jim, take care of my horse, will you?" Bob asked, swinging down from his sweating mount. "Boys, I just had a run-in with two of Plummer's deputies. I suppose this man here," thumbing toward Pegleg, who squatted by the fire, "told you about the new sheriff and what we're up against?"
"Yeah, podner. Don't it jest beat the devil? Plummer an' his gang is the kingpins on this dunghill!" Shorty spat disgustedly.
"Now, I'm going to talk straight and I want straight talk in return. In other words, gents, I'm laying the cards on the table face up. I don't ask any one of you to play my hand. You're free to do as you wish." Bob squatted on his heels before the fire and lit his pipe.
After drawing a few puffs he continued: "Boys, they've done it. Plummer and his cutthroats constitute the established law in the Basin. That puts me beyond the law--a fugitive and an outlaw. Sooner or later they'll be after my head. When one of you chooses to ride with me you'll put your head in the same noose. Don't forget that."
"Aw, cut the elakence, podner, an' git down tuh the meat in this nut," Shorty remarked dryly. "Iffen yore aimin' tuh split with me, yuh hornswaggled coyote, yore plans's all haywire an' twisted."
Bob continued. "It means if you stay with me that one or all of us stand a chance of being wiped out. Shorty here has a wife, and she must be protected."
"Count me in, you scalawag!" Daisy called from the nearby tent where she had been listening to the conversation. "You're not going to leave me, and you can't cut Shorty out on account of me either."
"Hear that, podner?" Shorty chuckled. "Me an' my fambly's chips is in the center o' the table."
"Mine's in," Pete Ranger said firmly. "I've got a little score tuh settle too."
"Me too, by jiminy!" echoed Pegleg.
Bob was touched with their loyalty and made no reply immediately. When he did speak his tones were businesslike.
The Bitterroot Trail Page 16