Chapter XIV.
Early next morning Clifford rode away, on the pretext that he was goingto buy cattle of a ranchman in the next county; but his absence wasmainly owing to the fact that he suspected the Estill visit was in someway connected with his intimacy with Mora; so he had decided that hewould take himself off, and thereby avoid a disagreeable scene.
The cattle-king and his wife arrived at an early hour, although they hadcalled a moment at the Moreland homestead and given a promise that theywould stop for an early tea on their return homeward from the Warlows.When they had been introduced by Maud, the colonel and Mr. Estill wentto the stable to care for the team, and when that important rite ofhospitality had been duly observed the gentlemen rejoined their wives inthe Warlow parlor.
Robbie was away in the fields with the farm men; Maud was busy withhousehold cares, on the plea of which she had absented herself from theparlor. The kitchen, which was the scene of her culinary operations, wassituated in an ell of the building, and as she stood by a window thatlooked directly through into one in the parlor, she could see and hear agreat deal that was transpiring therein.
An hour after the arrival of the guests she was standing by this openwindow, putting the last touches of frosting on a cocoa-nut cake, and sodeeply, indeed, was she engrossed with her labors that she had failed toobserve what the situation really was in the parlor, until she heard ahoarse cry:--
"Oh God! it is Bruce and Ivarene!" and as she glanced hastily into theroom she beheld a sight that perplexed and mystified her for long daysthereafter. Her father stood by the window holding a jeweled locket inhis hand; but at that moment he lowered the window-curtain, thusshutting off all view of the parlor.
When, an hour later, Mrs. Warlow came into the kitchen, traces of tearswere visible on her usually placid face; and when Maud, unable anylonger to restrain her curiosity, eagerly asked the meaning of themysterious conclave in the parlor, her mother evaded answering; so Maudwisely concluded to await her parents' confidence, which she feltcertain of sharing at the proper time.
At dinner Colonel Warlow ate but little of the tempting food; and theguests, although they praised the roast-chicken with its savorydressing, the delicate float and frosted cake, left their plates almostuntouched.
When the constrained and quiet meal was finished, and all had returnedto the parlor but Maud, Rob came back again to the table, and as thatyouth, with an unappeasable appetite, helped himself to a plateful of"stuffing" and gravy, he turned to his sister and said:--
"What's the matter now, Maud? The colonel seems to be all broke up; andthat old Lady Estill--by grab!--_she_ looked like death on a--a--whitepony! Mother, too, appeared as if she might have been sniffling; butthat's nothing but a common pastime with her. You know that all women,more or less--yourself included, madam--are very much given to thechicken-hearted habit of dribbling at the nose."
"Chicken-hearted, indeed! It is a great wonder, then, that you did notdevour us long ago, sir!" said Maud, with a great show of asperity, butvery glad to lead the subject into other channels and elude furtherquestioning; for she saw by her mother's manner that there was somethingabout the Estill visit which they wished, for unknown reasons, to keepsecret, and it was a matter of honor with the noble-hearted girl to helpthem conceal what she herself was longing to know.
"Well, big guns of the Estill calibre don't _go off_ on slightoccasions," persisted Rob, with his mouth half-full of the adored"stuffing," and as he reached for a tall glass of ruby-coloredplum-jelly, Maud quickly said:--
"Won't you have a bit of the cake, Rob?"
"Thanks--yes," said he, as he helped himself to the last solitaryquarter of that frosted dainty; "and I would be pleased to taste amorsel of that chicken also," he mumbled.
"What choice, sir?" she asked sarcastically.
"The running-gears, if you please," he replied with polite gravity.
With a gesture of scorn and disgust, Maud passed him the carcass of thefowl; then, after filling a large platter with crusts, bones, andegg-shells, she placed them before him with the injunction to helphimself. Retiring to the window, she watched him devour cake, chicken,jam, and potatoes with an appetite that knew no discrimination.
"I am afraid you have not done justice to my dishes," she said, as Robat length arose from the table.
"Oh, now don't give us any more sarcasm," said he, while picking histeeth with a broom-split. "It is so long from breakfast to noon, Maud,that I just get faint waiting on that slow old dinner-bell."
"No doubt; but you remember how ravenously hungry you were last week,when the pup got the bell-rope in his mouth and summoned you in from thefield at nine in the morning," she retorted, laughingly.
"Well, that was a cloudy day," he said, good-naturedly; then, taking hisstraw hat from its hook on the porch, he hurried away to the field.
After finishing her domestic duties, Maud joined the guests in theparlor, with a faint hope of learning something further of the mysterywhich seemed to enshroud their visit, of which she had got such atantalizing glimpse an hour before; but her expectations were, however,sadly doomed to disappointment, for nothing was said that would throwany light on the subject; and, after spending a while at the piano, sheinvited the guests out to look at her flowers.
The party thereupon adjourned to the garden; and when they had admiredthe flowers and shrubs, they sauntered on to the barn-yard, to look atthe peacocks and other fowls, of which Mrs. Warlow was justly proud.
"I should like to take a nearer view of your crops, Colonel. It has beenso long since I saw a well-conducted farm, that it appears quite anovelty to me," said Mr. Estill, with evident interest.
In a few moments they all embarked in the boat, and were rowed up toClifford's dwelling; for if there was one thing of which the colonel wasvain it was his son's farming.
As they stood in the level valley south of the river, a scene of perfectrural beauty was visible. On the north was Clifford's gothic cottage,half hidden by the drooping elm; to the east, the chimneys and gables ofthe Warlow homestead peeped above the trees; while out to the south, ona green knoll, stood the stone school-house, with its tower androse-window.
The yellow wheat-stubble shone like gold beside the silvery oats, fastripening for the harvest; the rank corn stood in clean, dark rows--greatsquares of waving green; scores of ricks were standing along the valley;while the clank of the header and shouts of the workmen were borne onthe breeze from the neighboring field.
"Ah! this is a very home-like scene, indeed--a great contrast to theone presented here just two years ago when last I visited this spot,"said Mr. Estill. "My ranch, ten miles below here, was then the lastsettlement on the frontier. There was not a human habitation insight--only antelope and buffalo to vary the monotony of perfectsolitude. In fact, there had never been an owner for the land nor afurrow turned here since the dawn of creation. Marvelous change!" headded.
After crossing the stream on a foot-log, which here formed a rusticbridge, they all walked up to Clifford's dwelling, and while standing bythe vine-mantled wall of the Old Corral, the colonel said in a musingtone:--
"If this inanimate ruin could but speak, we might learn the sequel tothat tragedy which has risen again, as it were, from the grave of thepast. The robbers were led by white men, who no doubt divided thetreasure among themselves while the savages were stupefied with liquor."
He was interrupted by a cry of wonder from Maud, who could not repressher astonishment at his assertion that white men had led the Indians--afact which Hugh Estill seemed to have been aware of also, and which,taken in connection with the incident of the miniature, led her tobelieve that the Estills were in some way connected with the massacre.
"Maud, dear, will you go and see how Clifford's young catalpa-trees,down the drive, are growing? and if they need cultivating again, we willsend one of the boys over with a plow soon," said Mrs. Warlow, with awarning glance; and Miss Maud moved quickly away, somewhat chagrined ather summary dismissal.
As she passed along, she was pondering over the strange fact that herfather had at last obtained a clue to the perpetrators of the outrage atthe corral; and she became so deeply engrossed with the thought that shewas quite unmindful which way her steps led, until her eye was attractedto a place where the earth appeared to have been recently disturbed, andshe paused a moment, vaguely wondering what could have been buriedthere.
The tall blue stem-grass was tangled and dead, while the square outlinesof a cavity showed through the mass of dead vines and leaves, which hadbeen suspiciously strewn over the place, with a view, it seemed, ofconcealing all trace of the disturbance. She became also aware of a mostdisgusting odor near the old cottonwood-tree; but, unmindful of this,she raked away the grass and litter to examine more closely the cavityin which the soil had been firmly trampled, but her curiosity was in nowise abated when she discovered that it was Clifford's boot-tracks thatwere visible in the soft, yielding earth.
"What has he buried here, that he seems so anxious to conceal?" she wasasking herself, when a puff of wind brought the odor with such addedstrength that she nearly fainted, and was hastily retreating from theproximity of that mysterious place, where she feared some strange, deadthing was buried, when she saw the bloated and mottled form of thathideous reptile which the reader may remember as having greeted a"Young Fortune Hunter" one weird and murky night the week before.
With a stifled shriek, Maud fled by the vile-smelling and repulsiveobject, which she saw at a glance was mangled and dead; then, as sheslowly returned and walked south of the reptile, she surveyed itcarefully, and saw, with a shudder, that it was a hideous rattlesnake,with its head severed from the body. Appalled at the thought that it washer brother who had slain this formidable monster, the bite of which,while living, she knew meant certain death, she was retreating againfrom the place, pale and trembling, but paused at the excavation, towonder, even then, what it meant, when her eye, which was scanning theground carefully, caught sight of a curious, small object lying at herfeet.
Stooping and picking it up, she was disgusted and surprised to see thatit was a human tooth. She was about to dash it down again, when athought seemed to occur that caused her to look carefully about for someminutes; then, as nothing else was found, she stripped some leaves froma grape-vine near, and, after wrapping them about the tooth, she put itcarefully away in her purse, and then returned to where her parents andguests were embarking for home. As they rowed down the willow-fringedstream, nothing was said concerning the strange discoveries that hadbeen made that day, and on arriving at the house, the visitors preparedto take an early departure. As Mrs. Estill stepped into the carriage,Mrs. Warlow gave a promise that she would drive down to the Estill ranchone day that week.
Clifford returned late that evening with some animals which he hadbought; and, as all was hurry and bustle, and several laborers remainedover night, there was no chance for confidential conversation among theyounger members of the Warlow family. But the next morning broke with alowering sky, and the misty rain which followed precluded any effort atfarm-work; so the laborers went to their respective homes, leaving thehouse to its customary quiet.
As Rob was plodding about in the rain and whistling shrill as a locust,he was signaled by Maud, who stood out by the gate, and when the youthjoined her they held a low, hurried conversation for a few minutes; thenBob darted down to the boat, and rowed rapidly up the stream.
He was gone but a few minutes, however, when he returned flushed andexcited, and placed something, which was wrapped in leaves, into Maud'soutstretched hand.
"How did you manage it?" she said in a low tone, as they paused under anash-tree near the river.
"Why, that was easy enough--I just put my boot on his snakeship's tail,then taking hold of the rattles with a handful of leaves--and--here theyare. But--oh fury!--how it did smell, though!" he added in disgust."Fourteen rattles and a button! Don't that beat the snake-tale of theoldest inhabitant, Maud?"
Then, without awaiting a reply, he added, out of breath withexcitement:--
"Cliff had a shocking time of it up there last Friday night, for this isonly a small part of his experience."
"Rob--what--oh, what can you mean?" cried Maud, in wildest excitement.
"Well, I don't know much; but this much I did learn by guessing at itfirst, then making him own up; for Cliff is as close-mouthed as anoyster. From what I could learn, it appears that, while prowling aboutthat night like a vagrant tom-cat, our good-looking brother ran intothat old spectre which shrieked so like a demon that night by thecamp-fire. This time, of course, it gave him the slip, as it alwaysdoes," he answered.
"You do not mean to say that horrible sight has been seen again, Rob?"
After cautioning her not to raise such a racket, Rob proceeded to tellof his encounter, and also what he had learned of Clifford's experiencelikewise.
"Oh, Rob--what a horribly unreal thing it all seems! But everywherethere is so much of mystery that I am almost wild," she cried, with agood deal of incoherence.
"Why was Clifford digging about the old cottonwood that night, Rob?" sheadded, after a moment's pause; but, as her brother only expressed bothsurprise and ignorance, she continued: "But this is not all, Robbie; forI made a most startling discovery to-day--one which throws a gloomylight on the old tragedy of Bruce and his wife."
"Why, thicker and thicker!" cried Rob. "But what kind of a mare's-nestdid you run into this time, Maud?" he added.
In reply, Maud told of seeing the locket, and of hearing her fatherexclaim that it contained the pictures of Bruce and his wife, and thestrange assertion which he had made while the Estills were standing bythe ruined wall.
"But how did the locket ever get into the Estills' hands?" Rob said,with a perplexed look; then, after a moment, he added, excitedly:--
"Oh, now I know what father and Mr. Estill were talking about in thebarn. I had just stepped into the upper hall-way to lay a fork on therack--you know how strict father always was about our putting everythingin its proper place--so, to save myself a blowing up, I went out of myway and had left the fork there, and was about to hurry on to the wellfor a jug of water, when I heard Mr. Estill say:--
"'This must be a matter of sacred confidence between us, Colonel; for ifit were known that any one of my people had participated in that affair,or had been engaged in the murder, there are people who are maliciousenough, no doubt, to connect myself and wife with the crime; and forthat reason alone I have always kept the matter a profound secret, evenfrom Hugh and Mora. The locket was set with rubies and engraved with thename which, you see, we have used, and have only shortened; but she hasnever learned its origin, nor anything of the tragedy.'
"Then, after a moment, he continued, after father had said somethingwhich I could not quite catch:--
"'If Olin Estill had only lived, the mystery might have been explained;but I found him dead and mangled beyond all resemblance to ahuman--nothing to identify his remains but the tattered clothing, whichI recognized; for the wolves had torn his limbs away, and left hisskeleton bleaching out on the prairie. Yet the strangest part of it allis the mysterious resemblance of the faces in that miniature to Mora andyour son. Why, my wife was terribly agitated when she first met that boyof yours; for he is the perfect counterpart of the picture of yourfriend, who must have died years before either of those children wereborn. Mora's resemblance to Ivarene--'
"About that time I grew weary of such rot, and did not pay any furtherattention to what they said. How much more I might have heard I can'tguess; for I hurried away to the well, as I was mortal thirsty andtired. I am sorry now that I didn't stay and hear it out, for therecertainly is something up."
While talking thus they had sauntered on into the house; and while theystood by the parlor door Rob had made the concluding remark, whichClifford chanced to overhear, as he came upon them silently through thecarpeted hall.
"Here, you young conspirators--out with it, and confess at once 'what'sup,' as this bold robber says with su
ch an air of deep mystery,"Clifford said, with a smile of curiosity.
Maud looked up with a flash of resentment in her honest Warlow eyes; forshe did not half like the idea of this Adonis-like brother keepinganything from her. Thrusting her hand into her pocket, she drew out her_porte-monnaie_, as he continued:--
"Well, Maud, did you learn anything yesterday?" while an anxious lookcrept into his face.
"Yes, I learned this!" she replied, while holding out her hand, inwhich, resting on a piece of muslin, was a human tooth, and that long,reticulated tissue, which he saw at a glance was the rattles of theenormous reptile he had encountered while digging for the treasure.
He looked at them in a startled, wondering way for a moment; then, as ifcomprehending it all, he said:--
"Ah, yes--the rattles! But the tooth--that is the hardest part of all."
Maud and Rob could not restrain a smile at the ghastly pun; but theformer replied:--
"I found them where you had been digging, near the old cottonwood-tree.We know about the rattlesnake and that gray-robed figure, which was thesame one that startled us by the camp-fire, I really believe. But thathuman tooth?--I shall certainly go raving mad if you keep anythingfurther from me."
Clifford glanced from her pale face to that of Rob, which wore a look ofstartled perplexity.
"I find it impossible to keep anything from your sharp eyes. So it ismyself, after all, who has to confess!" he said, seating himself on thedivan.
Then, while the rain lashed the windows and the chill wind wailedthrough the tree-tops without, he told that story of midnight horror.When he finished, Maud was pale and tearful, and Rob's hazel eyes wereround with mute astonishment.
"But Maud, did you learn the reason of Mr. Ess--that is Mora'sfolks--well--why they came up yesterday?" Clifford managed at length tosay in a confused manner, that revealed a great deal of uneasiness onhis part, which was not at all lost on the sharp-eyed couple beside him.
Then, drying her tears, Maud told of the strange revelations which thevisit of the Estills had disclosed; and when she repeated the singularconversation which Robbie had overheard in the barn, Clifford cried outexcitedly:--
"Ah! that was the mysterious kinsman who Mora said was buried on thehill-top at Estill Ranch. He was one of the robbers who perpetrated theoutrage at the corral years ago. _A bandit and murderer!_ 'Tis no wonderthat nothing but nettles ever grow on that grave. It was through him,Maud, that they obtained the locket, with its picture of Bruce andIvarene. But it can not be that Mr. Estill derived his great wealth fromthe same source! If so, he never would have betrayed himself by showingthe pictures of the people that were murdered by his own kinsman. What,then, became of the great treasure?" he sadly asked. But no one seemedable to answer his question; for the whole affair had now assumed a toneof mystery such as it had never worn before.
A Fortune Hunter; Or, The Old Stone Corral: A Tale of the Santa Fe Trail Page 15