The Law-Breakers Part 62

"Now I can load up my grips," she exclaimed.

Fyles looked up from the brown study into which he had fallen.

"This Bill--this Big Brother Bill hammered master Pete to a--pulp?" he inquired, with a smile of interest.

"He certainly did," laughed Kate. "And when he'd done with him I'm afraid my tongue completed the--good work. That's why this has happened." She indicated the wagon with a humorous look of dismay.

Fyles laughed. Then he sobered almost at once.

"I came here for two reasons," he said curiously. "I came to--well--because I couldn't stay away, for one thing. You see, I'm not nearly so much of a police officer as I am a mere human creature.

So I came to see you before you went away. You see, so many things may happen on--Monday. The other reason was to tell you I've had a wonderful slice of--hateful good luck."

"Hateful good luck?"

Kate raised a pair of wondering eyes to his face.

"Yes, hateful." The man's emphasis left no sort of doubt as to his feelings. "Of course," he went on, "it's ridiculous that sort of att.i.tude in a policeman, but I can admire a loyal crook. Yes, I could have a friendly feeling for him. A traitor turns me sick in the stomach. One of the gang has turned traitor. He's told me that detail you couldn't give me. I've got their complete plan of campaign."

The wonder in Kate's eyes had become one steady look of inquiry.

"Their complete plan of campaign?" she echoed. Then in a moment a great excitement seemed to rise up in her. It found expression in the rapidity of her words.

"Then you know that--Charlie is innocent? You know now how wrong you were? You know that I have been right all the way through, and that you have been wrong? Tell me! Tell me!" she cried.

Stanley Fyles shook his head.

"I'm sorry. The man had the grace to refuse me the leader's ident.i.ty.

I only got their plan--but it's more than enough."

Kate breathed a sigh as of regret.

"That's too bad," she cried. "If he'd only told you that, it might--it might have cleared up everything. We should have had no more of this wretched suspicion of an innocent man. It might have altered your whole plan of campaign. As it is----"

"It leaves me more than ever convinced I am on a red-hot scent which must now inevitably lead me to success."

For a few moments Kate looked into the man's face as though waiting for him to continue. Then, at last, she smiled, and the man thought he had never beheld so alluring a picture of feminine persuasion.

"Am I to--know any more?" she pleaded.

The appeal became irresistible.

"There can be no harm in telling you," he said. "You gave me the first help. It is to you I shall largely owe my success. Yes, you may as well know, and I know I can rely on your discretion. You were able to tell me of the coming of the liquor, but you could not tell me exactly how it was coming. The man could tell me that--and did. It is coming in down the river in a small boat. One man will bring it--the man who runs the gang. While this is being done a load of hay, accompanied by the whole gang, will come into the town as a blind. It is obvious to me they will come in on the run, hoping to draw us. Then, when caught, they rely on our search of the wagon to delay us--while the boat slips through. It's pretty smart, and," he added ruefully, "would probably have been successful--had I not been warned. Now it is different. Our first attention will be that boat."

Kate's eyes were alight with the warmest interest. She became further excited.

"It's smart," she cried enthusiastically. "They're--they're a clever set of rascals." Then, for a moment, she thought. "Of course, you must get that boat. What a sell for them when you let the wagon go free.

Say, it's--it's the greatest fun ever."

Fyles smilingly agreed. This woman's delight in the upsetting of the "runners" plans was very pleasant to him. There could be no doubt as to her sympathies being with him. If only she weren't concerned for Bryant he could have enjoyed the situation to the full.

Suddenly she looked up into his face with just a shade of anxiety.

"But this--informer," she said earnestly. "They'll--kill him."

Fyles laughed.

"He'll be over the border before they're wise, and they'll be held safe--anyway."

Kate agreed.

"I'd forgotten that," she said thoughtfully. Then she gave a s.h.i.+ver of disgust. "I--I loathe an informer."

"Everybody with any sense of honor--must," agreed Fyles. "Informer?

I'd sooner shake hands with a murderer. And yet we have to deal and bargain with them--in our work."

"I was just wondering," said Kate, after another pause, "who he could be. I--I'm not going to ask his name. But--do I know him?"

The policeman laughingly shook his head.

"I must play the game, even--with an informer. Say, there's an old saw in our force, 'No names, no pack-drill.' It fits the case now. When the feller's skipped the border, maybe you'll know who he is by his absence from the village."

Suddenly Kate turned to her wagon. She gazed at it for some moments.

Then she turned about, and, with a pathetic smile, gave vent to her feelings.

"Oh, dear," she cried. "I--I wish it was after dinner. I should be away then. I feel as if I never--never wanted to see this valley again--ever. It all seems wrong. It all seems like a nightmare now. I feel as if at any moment the ground might open up, and--and swallow me right up. I--I feel like a dizzy creature standing at the edge of a precipice. I--I feel as if I must fall, as if I wanted to fall. I shall be so glad to get away."

"But you'll come back," the man cried urgently. "It's--only till after Monday." Then he steadied himself, and smiled whimsically.

"Remember, we have our wager. Remember, in the end you either have to--laugh at me, or--marry me. It's a big stake for us both. For me especially. Your mocking laughter would be hard to bear in conjunction with losing you. Oh, Kate, we entered on this in a spirit of antagonism, but--but I sort of think it'll break my heart to--lose.

You see, if I lose, I lose you. You, I suppose, will feel glad--if you win. It's hard." His eyes grew dark with the contemplation of his possible failure. "If I could only hope it would be otherwise. If I could only feel that you cared, in however slight a degree. It would not seem so bad. If I win I have only won you. I have not won your love. The whole thing is absurd, utterly ridiculous, and mad. I want your love, not--not--just you."

Kate made no answer, and the man went on.

"Do you know, Kate, as the days go on in this place, as the moment of crisis approaches, I am growing less and less of a policeman. I'm even beginning to repent of my wager with you, and but for the chance of winning you, I should be glad to abandon it. Love has been a hidden chapter in the book of life to me up till now, and now, reading it, it quite overwhelms me. Do you know I've always despised people who've put true love before all other considerations? I thought them weak imbeciles, and quite unfit. Now I am realizing how much I had to learn all the while, and have since learned."

He paused, and, after a moment's thought, went on again.

"Do you know a curious thought, desire, has grown up in me since our compact. I know it's utterly--utterly mad, but I can't help it.

Believing now, as I do, that Bryant is no more to you than you say, I feel that when I get him--I feel I cannot, dare not keep him. I feel a crazy longing to let him go free. Do you know what that means to me?

It means giving up all I have struggled for all these years. Do you know why I want to do it? Because I believe it would make you happy."

Kate's eyes were turned from him. They were full of a great burning joy and love. And the love was all for this man, so recklessly desirous of her happiness.

She shook her head without turning to him.

"You must not," she said, in deep thrilling tones. "You must not forego the duty you owe yourself. If you capture Charlie he must pay the price. No thought of me must influence you. And I--I am ready to pay the forfeit. I made the wager with my eyes wide open--wide, wide."

Fyles stirred uneasily. He meant every word he had said, and somehow he felt he was still beyond the barrier, still outside the citadel he was striving to reduce.

"Yes, I know," he said almost bitterly. "It is just a wager--a wager between us. It is a wager whereby we can force our convictions upon each other."