The Man of the Forest Part 52

Helen stood beside him, bent over him, in her earnestness, as she greeted him. She saw a shade of pain in his eyes and his immobility struck her, but he did not seem badly off. Bo was pale, round-eyed, and apparently too agitated to speak. Carmichael placed chairs beside the couch for the girls.

"Wal, what's ailin' you this nice mornin'?" asked Roy, eyes on the cowboy.

"Huh! Would you expect me to be wearin' the smile of a fellar goin' to be married?" retorted Carmichael.

"Sh.o.r.e you haven't made up with Bo yet," returned Roy.

Bo blushed rosy red, and the cowboy's face lost something of its somber hue.

"I allow it's none of your d--darn bizness if SHE ain't made up with me," he said.

"Las Vegas, you're a wonder with a hoss an' a rope, an' I reckon with a gun, but when it comes to girls you sh.o.r.e ain't there."

"I'm no Mormon, by golly! Come, Ma Ca.s.s, let's get out of here, so they can talk."

"Folks, I was jest a-goin' to say thet Roy's got fever an' he oughtn't t' talk too much," said the old woman. Then she and Carmichael went into the kitchen and closed the door.

Roy looked up at Helen with his keen eyes, more kindly piercing than ever.

"My brother John was here. He'd just left when you come. He rode home to tell my folks I'm not so bad hurt, an' then he's goin' to ride a bee-line into the mountains."

Helen's eyes asked what her lips refused to utter.

"He's goin' after Dale. I sent him. I reckoned we-all sorta needed sight of thet doggone hunter."

Roy had averted his gaze quickly to Bo.

"Don't you agree with me, la.s.s?"

"I sure do," replied Bo, heartily.

All within Helen had been stilled for the moment of her realization; and then came swell and beat of heart, and inconceivable chafing of a tide at its restraint.

"Can John--fetch Dale out--when the snow's so deep?" she asked, unsteadily.

"Sh.o.r.e. He's takin' two hosses up to the snow-line. Then, if necessary, he'll go over the pa.s.s on snow-shoes. But I bet him Dale would ride out.

Snow's about gone except on the north slopes an' on the peaks."

"Then--when may I--we expect to see Dale?"

"Three or four days, I reckon. I wish he was here now.... Miss Helen, there's trouble afoot."

"I realize that. I'm ready. Did Las Vegas tell you about Beasley's visit to me?"

"No. You tell me," replied Roy.

Briefly Helen began to acquaint him with the circ.u.mstances of that visit, and before she had finished she made sure Roy was swearing to himself.

"He asked you to marry him! Jerusalem!... Thet I'd never have reckoned.

The--low-down coyote of a greaser!... Wal, Miss Helen, when I met up with Senor Beasley last night he was sh.o.r.e spoilin' from somethin'; now I see what thet was. An' I reckon I picked out the bad time."

"For what? Roy, what did you do?"

"Wal, I'd made up my mind awhile back to talk to Beasley the first chance I had. An' thet was it. I was in the store when I seen him go into Turner's. So I followed. It was 'most dark. Beasley an' Riggs an'

Mulvey an' some more were drinkin' an' powwowin'. So I just braced him right then."

"Roy! Oh, the way you boys court danger!"

"But, Miss Helen, thet's the only way. To be afraid MAKES more danger.

Beasley 'peared civil enough first off. Him an' me kept edgin' off, an' his pards kept edgin' after us, till we got over in a corner of the saloon. I don't know all I said to him. Sh.o.r.e I talked a heap. I told him what my old man thought. An' Beasley knowed as well as I thet my old man's not only the oldest inhabitant hereabouts, but he's the wisest, too. An' he wouldn't tell a lie. Wal, I used all his sayin's in my argument to show Beasley thet if he didn't haul up short he'd end almost as short. Beasley's thick-headed, an' powerful conceited. Vain as a peac.o.c.k! He couldn't see, an' he got mad. I told him he was rich enough without robbin' you of your ranch, an'--wal, I sh.o.r.e put up a big talk for your side. By this time he an' his gang had me crowded in a corner, an' from their looks I begun to get cold feet. But I was in it an' had to make the best of it. The argument worked down to his pinnin' me to my word that I'd fight for you when thet fight come off. An' I sh.o.r.e told him for my own sake I wished it 'd come off quick.... Then--wal--then somethin' did come off quick!"

"Roy, then he shot you!" exclaimed Helen, pa.s.sionately.

"Now, Miss Helen, I didn't say who done it," replied Roy, with his engaging smile.

"Tell me, then--who did?"

"Wal, I reckon I sha'n't tell you unless you promise not to tell Las Vegas. Thet cowboy is plumb off his head. He thinks he knows who shot me an' I've been lyin' somethin' scandalous. You see, if he learns--then he'll go gunnin'. An', Miss Helen, thet Texan is bad. He might get plugged as I did--an' there would be another man put off your side when the big trouble comes."

"Roy, I promise you I will not tell Las Vegas," replied Helen, earnestly.

"Wal, then--it was Riggs!" Roy grew still paler as he confessed this and his voice, almost a whisper, expressed shame and hate. "Thet four-flush did it. Shot me from behind Beasley! I had no chance. I couldn't even see him draw. But when I fell an' lay there an' the others dropped back, then I seen the smokin' gun in his hand. He looked powerful important.

An' Beasley began to cuss him an' was cussin' him as they all run out."

"Oh, coward! the despicable coward!" cried Helen.

"No wonder Tom wants to find out!" exclaimed Bo, low and deep. "I'll bet he suspects Riggs."

"Sh.o.r.e he does, but I wouldn't give him no satisfaction."

"Roy, you know that Riggs can't last out here."

"Wal, I hope he lasts till I get on my feet again."

"There you go! Hopeless, all you boys! You must spill blood!" murmured Helen, shudderingly.

"Dear Miss Helen, don't take on so. I'm like Dale--no man to hunt up trouble. But out here there's a sort of unwritten law--an eye for an eye--a tooth for a tooth. I believe in G.o.d Almighty, an' killin' is against my religion, but Riggs shot me--the same as shootin' me in the back."

"Roy, I'm only a woman--I fear, faint-hearted and unequal to this West."

"Wait till somethin' happens to you. 'Supposin' Beasley comes an' grabs you with his own dirty big paws an', after maulin' you some, throws you out of your home! Or supposin' Riggs chases you into a corner!"

Helen felt the start of all her physical being--a violent leap of blood.

But she could only judge of her looks from the grim smile of the wounded man as he watched her with his keen, intent eyes.

"My friend, anythin' can happen," he said. "But let's hope it won't be the worst."

He had begun to show signs of weakness, and Helen, rising at once, said that she and Bo had better leave him then, but would come to see him the next day. At her call Carmichael entered again with Mrs. Ca.s.s, and after a few remarks the visit was terminated. Carmichael lingered in the doorway.