by B. M. Bower
“Oh, by the way, I’ve got something for you, Wilhemina,” he said. “Put down that thing and come over here. I want to shave before I take a try at walking, anyway. See here, lady-mine. How would you like these strung on a gold chain?”
From under his pillow he drew out a tobacco sack and emptied the contents into her palm. “Those are your Christmas present, Bill-Loo. Like ’em?”
“Do I!” Billy Louise held up the biggest one and stared at it round-eyed. “Gold nuggets! Where in the world—”
“That’s what I’m going to tell you—now you’re through being just pals. Oh, I’d have told you, anyway, I reckon, only the play never came right, after that first little squabble we had over it.” He put an arm around her, pulled her down beside him, and rubbed his bristly chin over her hair. “That’s the wolf joke, William. I did make a lot of money wolfing—on the square. I dug out a den of pups and struck a little pocket of pretty rich gravel. I’ve been busy panning it out all the time I could spare, till the creek froze up.”
“You found a gold mine?” Billy Louise gasped. “Why, whoever would have thought—”
“Oh, I wouldn’t call it a gold mine, exactly,” he hastened to assure her, before her imagination dazzled her. “There isn’t enough of it. It’s just a pocket. I’ve cleaned up about eighteen hundred dollars, this summer, besides these nuggets. Maybe more. And there’s some left yet. I found both ends of the streak; it lies along a ledge on the side of a gully. I couldn’t find anything except in that one streak of gravel; and when that’s gone she’s done, as near as I can figure. But it isn’t all gone yet, lady mine. There’s enough left to pay the preacher, anyway. That big fellow I found along toward the last, just before I quit working.” He kissed her gravely. “Poor old girl! She’s dead game, all right, and she’s kind of had the cards stacked against her from the start. But things are going to come easier from now on, if I’m any prophet. It’s too bad—”
Billy Louise read his thought.
“Mommie looked so peaceful, Ward. At the last, I mean. If I could have waked her up, I don’t believe I’d have had the heart to do it. She never was very happy; you know that. She couldn’t seem to see the happiness in little things. So many are like that. And she looked happier—at the last—than I ever saw her look before. So—I’m happier, too—since yesterday.”
“Are you?” Ward dropped his face against her hair and held it there for a minute. It was not his cold altogether that had made his voice break hoarsely over those two words.
“Do you know—” Billy Louise was lifting the nuggets one after the other and letting them drop to her lap—“happiness is like gold, Ward. We’ve got to pan it out of life ourselves. If we try to steal it from someone else, we pay the penalty, don’t you think? And so many go looking and looking for great big chunks of it all—all—whatever they do to it.” She laughed a little at her ignorance of the technical process. “You see what I mean, don’t you? We get a streak of gravel; that’s life. And we can pan out happiness if we try—little nuggets and sometimes just colors—but it keeps us hoping and working.”
“Doctor of philosophy!” Ward kissed her hair. “You’re a great little girl, all right. And I’m the buckaroo that has struck a mighty rich streak of pay dirt in life, Wilhemina. I’m panning out happiness millions to the pan right now.”
Billy Louise, attacked with a spasm of shyness, went abruptly back to padding the makeshift crutches and changed the subject.
“I’m going home, soon as I fix you comfy,” she said.
Whereupon Ward protested most strenuously and did not look in the least like a man who has just announced himself a millionaire in happiness.
“What for?” he demanded, after he had exhausted himself to no purpose in telling her that she should not leave the cabin until he could go along.
“I want eggs—for you, you ungrateful beast. And some bread for toast. And I want to tell Phoebe and John where I am.”
“You think those Injuns are going to hurt themselves worrying? I don’t want any eggs and toast. I’ve managed all right on crackers and jerky for six weeks, so I guess I can stand it a few hours longer. Still, if you’re crazy to go—” He dropped back on the pillow and turned his face away.
Billy Louise worked silently until she had made the crutches as soft on top as she could. Then she hunted for Ward’s razor and shaving-cup and after one or two failures—through using too much water—she managed to make a cup of very nice lather.
“Now, buckaroo, don’t be a sulky kid,” she said, firmly as she could. “You know it’s hard enough for me to go off and leave you here like this. But, as you say, you’ve managed to get along for six weeks without me, so—”
“Sure. I could do it again, I reckon.” Ward turned a gloomy pair of eyes upon her. “What’s the rush? Do you think it isn’t proper—”
“It’s always proper to do what is right and helpful and kind,” said Billy Louise with dignity, because she had made up her mind and was trying not to weaken. “I’ve lived in this country all my life, and I guess my reputation will stand this little strain,” she went on lightly, “even if anyone finds it out. I’ve got to go, that’s all. Those people in the Cove—” It was eloquent of her stern justice that she could not bring herself to speak them by name.
“You aren’t going to turn them over to the sheriff, are you, William? Good Lord, girl! If I can—”
“Your lather is getting cold,” Billy Louise said evenly. “I ought to have known better than mention the subject at all. I’m going to do what’s right. I believe I have some faint idea of right and wrong, Ward Warren. And I’m not going to do anything that I don’t feel is right, or anything that I’ll be sorry for. You might trust me, I think. It’s early yet—”
“You’ll come back before night, won’t you?” From his tone, Ward had yielded the point—and was minded to yield with what graciousness he could command. It had occurred to him that he was behaving like a selfish booby. Billy Louise should not call him weak-kneed; whatever happened.
“No, I don’t think I can, Ward. I might send John.”
“You needn’t bother. I don’t want John.”
“Well, I don’t suppose he would be much comfort. I’ll make a pot of coffee, Ward, and I’ll fill the lantern and fix it so you can heat a cup when you want to; how will that be?” She brightened a little at the idea. “And I’ll fix your lungs up again before I go and bake some nice, hot biscuits and put here, and butter, and fix you just as comfy as possible. Or, if you can manage to get around with the crutches, all the better. I’ll leave things so you won’t have to go outside for a thing.
“And, Ward”—she bent over him anxiously—“I’m going because I must. For all our sakes I must go right away. And I’ll come back tomorrow just as early as I can get here. So if you are real good, and take care of your cold, and get a little strong about walking, you can go back with me. And tomorrow night you can sit in daddy’s chair before the fireplace, and we’ll have chicken and—”
“All right—all right!” Ward laughed suddenly. “Will you give me a lump of sugar and let me look at all the pitty pittys in the album? Oh, you William the Conqueror!” He caught her close, when he saw that he had hurt her feelings a little, and held her a minute. “When I get two good legs under me, Wilhemina,” he promised softly, “I’m going to stake myself to the job of taking care of you. Your cheeks are pretty thin, little lady-girl. Damn the luck, anyway!”
“Here’s the lather. I’m going down and saddle up,” said Billy Louise. “When I come back, we’ll see how the crutches work.”
“Oh, say!” Ward called after her. “My saddle’s behind a buck bush up along the trail where the bank is cut straight. I forgot about that. And would you mind bringing the looking-glass, William? How the deuce do you think a man’s going to shave without a glass? And that old paper to wipe the lather on, while you’re at it. I see the Billy of you hasn’t got to the shaving-point yet, at any rate!”
Billy
Louise took down the glass and flung it on the bed, threw the newspaper after it, and departed with her chin in the air to find his saddle and bridle and carry them to the stable.
Ward, sitting up in bed, stared at the closed door remorsefully. When he was convinced that she did not intend to return even for the last word which is so tempting to a woman, he reached for the glass, held it up, and looked within.
“Sufferin’ saddle blankets!” he grunted and dropped the glass. “And she could kiss a mug like that!”
CHAPTER XXVI
“HM-MM!”
Floyd Carson was a somewhat phlegmatic young man, but he swore an astonished oath when he saw Billy Louise galloping along the lane that led nowhere except to the womanless abode of Samuel Seabeck. He walked very fast to the stable, which was the first logical stopping-place, and so he met Billy Louise before she had time to dismount, even supposing she intended to do so.
“Hello, Floyd! Is Mr. Seabeck at home?” Billy Louise was not one to waste time in the superfluities of speech when she had anything on her mind.
“Sure. Get off, and I’ll put up your horse. We’re just through eatin’, but our grub carpenter will rustle something for yuh, all right.”
“No, I can’t stop this time. I’m not hungry, anyway. Just give a yell for Mr. Seabeck, will you? I want to see him a minute.”
Floyd eyed her uncertainly, decided that Billy Louise was not in the mood to yield to persuasion, and tactfully hurried off to find Seabeck without shouting for him—lest he bring others also, who were evidently not wanted at all. He took it that Billy Louise felt some diffidence about visiting a strictly bachelor outfit, and he set himself to relieve her of any embarrassment.
Presently Seabeck himself came from the dirt-roofed, rambling cabin which was his home and strode down the path, buttoning his coat as he came. Floyd’s face showed for a minute in the doorway before he effaced himself completely, and not another man was in sight anywhere. Billy Louise was grateful to circumstance; she had dreaded this visit, though not for the reason Floyd Carson believed.
“How de do, Miss MacDonald? Pretty nice day, but I’m afraid it’s a weather-breeder. The wind’s trying to change, I notice.”
“Yes, and so I mustn’t stop. Could you ride part way home with me, Mr. Seabeck? I—want to talk with you about something. And I can’t stop a minute. I must get home.”
“Why, certainly, I’ll go. If you’ll wait just a minute while I saddle up—or if you’d rather ride on, I’ll overtake you.”
“I’ll ride on, I think. Blue hates standing around, and he’s a little warm, too. You’re awfully good, Mr. Seabeck—”
“Oh, not at all!” Seabeck stubbed his toe on the stable doorsill in his confusion at the praise. “I’ll be right along, soon as I can slap a saddle on.” He disappeared, and Billy Louise turned and loped slowly down the lane.
So far, so good. Billy Louise tried to believe that it was all going to be as plain sailing as this fortuitous beginning, but she was aware of a nervous fluttering in her throat while she waited, and she knew that she positively dreaded hearing Seabeck gallop up behind her on the frozen trail. “Why will people do things that make a lot of trouble for others?” she cried out petulantly. And then she heard the steady pluck, pluckety-pluck of Seabeck’s horse, and twisted her lips with a whimsical acceptance of the part she had set herself to play. She might smash things, she told herself, but at the worst it would be only a premature smash. “Come, Bill,” she adjured herself, pretending it was what Ward would have said, had he looked into her mind. “Be a Bill-the-Conk—and a good one! Shove in your chips and play for all there is in it.”
“You must have some lightning method of saddling, Mr. Seabeck,” she smiled over her shoulder at him when he came up.
“We learn to do things quick when we’ve handled cattle a few years,” he admitted. He had a diffident manner of receiving compliments which pleased Billy Louise and gave her confidence a needed brace. She was not a skilled coquette; she was too honest and too straightforward for that. Still, nature places certain weapons in the hands of a woman, and instinct shows her how to use them. Seabeck, from his very unaccustomedness to women, seemed to her particularly pliable. Billy Louise took her courage in both hands and went straight to the point.
“Mr. Seabeck, I’ve always heard that you’re an awfully square man,” she said. “Daddy seemed to think that you could be depended on in any kind of a pinch. I hope it’s true. I’m banking a lot on your squareness today.”
“Why, I don’t know about my being any better than my neighbors,” he said, with a twinkle of humor in his eyes, which were a bright, unvarying blue. “But you can bank on my doing anything I can for you, Miss MacDonald. I think I could be even better than square—to help a plucky little girl who—”
“I don’t mean just the ordinary squareness,” Billy Louise put in quietly. “I mean bigness, too; a bigness that will make a man be more than square; a bigness that will let him see all around a thing and judge it from a bigger viewpoint than mere justice—”
“Hm-mm—if you could trust me enough to—”
“I’m going to, Mr. Seabeck. I’m going to take it for granted you’re bigger than your own squareness. And if you’re not—if you’re just a selfish, weak, letter-perfect, honest man, I’ll—feel like—thrashing you.” Without a doubt that was the Billy of her which spoke.
“I’ll take the thrashing if you think I need it,” he promised, looking at her with something more than admiration. “What have you done, Miss MacDonald? If I can help you hide the body—”
“There!” Billy Louise dared to wrinkle her nose at him—and I don’t know which of her did it. “I knew you’d play up like a good sport. But what if it isn’t a body? What if—what if you found some of your cattle with—with a big D—run over your brand?” She had a perfectly white line around her mouth and nostrils then, but she faced him squarely.
“Hm-mm!” Seabeck gave her a quick, sidewise glance and pulled thoughtfully at the graying whiskers that pointed his chin. “I would have been glad to lend you money, or help you in any way.”
“Yes, I know.” Billy Louise snapped her reins impatiently. “But what would you do about the—cattle?”
“What could I do? What would you want me to do? I should do whatever would help you. I would—”
“Would you—be as ready to help somebody else? Somebody I—thought a—lot—of?”
Seabeck, evidently, saw light. He cleared his throat and spat gravely into a bush. “I see you don’t trust me, after all,” he said.
“I do. I’ve got to; I mean, I’d have to whether I did or not. It’s like this, Mr. Seabeck. It isn’t the big D brand; of course you knew it couldn’t be. But it isn’t yours, either. Someone was tempted and was weak. They’re sorry now. They want to do the right thing, and it rests with you whether they can do it. You can shut them up in jail if you like; you have a perfect right to do it. Some men would do that and be able to sleep after it, I suppose. But I believe you’re bigger than that. I believe you’re big enough to see that if a person goes wrong and then sees the mistake and wants to pull back into the straight trail, a man—even the one who has been wronged—would be committing a moral crime to prevent it. To take a person who wants to make a fresh, honest start, and shut that person up amongst criminals and brand him as a criminal, seems to me a worse wrong than to steal a few head of cattle; don’t you think so, Mr. Seabeck?”
What Mr. Seabeck thought did not immediately appear in speech. He was pulling a little harder at his whiskers and staring at the ears of his horse.
“That would depend on the person,” he said at last. “Some men are born criminals.”
“Oh, we aren’t talking about that kind of a man. Surely to goodness you don’t call Charlie Fox a born criminal, or Marthy Meilke?”
“Charlie Fox! Is that the person you mean, who has been—”
“Yes, it is! And he is horribly sorry, and so is Marthy, and they’ll pay yo
u for the cattle. And if you do anything mean about it, it will simply kill poor old Marthy. You couldn’t send her to the pen, Mr. Seabeck. Think how she’s worked there in the Cove; and Charlie has worked like a perfect slave; and he was trying to get a start so he—could—get married—”
“Hm-mm!” Rumors had reached Seabeck, thanks to Billy Louise’s dropped lashes upon a certain occasion, which caused him to believe he saw further light.
“And if you’re going to be horrid—”
“Will the—lady he wants to marry give him another chance?”
“Don’t you think she ought to—if she l-loves him?” Billy Louise studied the skyline upon the side farthest from Seabeck.
“You say he wants to pay for the cattle and—”
“He’ll do anything he can to make amends,” said Billy Louise, with conviction. “He’ll take his medicine and go to jail if you insist,” she added sorrowfully. “It will ruin his whole life, of course, and break a couple of women’s hearts, but—”
“It’s a bad thing, a mighty bad thing, when a man tries to get ahead too fast.”
“It’s a good thing when he learns the lesson without having to pay for it with his whole future,” Billy Louise amended the statement.
Seabeck smiled a little behind his fingers that kept tugging at his whiskers.
“Did Charlie Fox send Miss Portia—”
“He doesn’t know I had any intention of coming,” Billy Louise assured him quickly and with perfect truth. “They’ll both be awfully surprised when they find it out”—which was also perfectly true—“and when they see you ride up, they’ll think you’ve got the sheriff at your back. I haven’t a doubt they—”
“There are a few points I’d like to clear up, if you can help me,” Seabeck interrupted. “All this rustling that has been going on for the past year and a half: are Fox and the Meilke woman mixed up in that? I want,” he said, “to help the young man—and her. But if they have been operating on a large scale, I’m afraid—”
“I believe Charlie must have been influenced in some ways by bad acquaintances,” Billy Louise answered more steadily than she felt. “But his—rustling—has been of a petty kind. I won’t apologize for him, Mr. Seabeck. I think it’s perfectly awful, what he has done. But I think it would be more awful still not to give him a chance. The other rustling is some outside gang, I’m sure. If Charlie was mixed up with them, it’s very slightly—just enough to damn him utterly if he were arrested and tried. He isn’t a natural criminal. He’s just weak. And he’s learned his lesson. It’s up to you, Mr. Seabeck, to say whether he shall have a chance to profit by the lesson. And there’s poor old Marthy in it, too. She just worships Charlie and would do anything—even steal for him.”