The Ranchman Part 33

She told him, and the man's face whitened.

"I was asleep, and heard nothing of it," he said. "So that man Keats said they had plenty of evidence! You are going away? I wouldn't, girl; there may have been a mistake. If I were you--"

Her glance of horror brought Parsons' protests to an end quickly. He, too, she thought, was under the spell of Taylor's magnetism. That, or every person she knew was a prey to those vicious and fawning instincts to which she had yielded-the subordination of principle to greed-of ease, or of wealth, or of place.

She shuddered with sudden repugnance.

For the first time she had a doubt of Parsons-a revelation of that character which he had always succeeded in keeping hidden from her. She drew away from him and walked to the door, telling him that _he_ might stay, but that she did not intend to remain in the house another minute.

She found a horse in the stable-two, in fact-the ones Taylor had insisted belonged to her and Martha. She threw saddle and bridle on hers, and was mounting, when she saw Martha standing at the stable door, watching her.

"Yo' uncle says you goin' away, honey-how's that? An' he done say somethin' about Mr. Squint killin' your father. Doan' you b'lieve no fool nonsense like that! Mr. Squint wouldn't kill n.o.body's father! That deputy man ain't nothin' but a d.a.m.n, no-good liar!"

Martha's vehemence was genuine, but not convincing; and the girl mounted the horse, hanging the handbag from the pommel of the saddle.

"You's sure goin'!" screamed the negro woman, frantic with a dread that she was in danger of losing the girl for whom she had formed a deep affection.

"You wait-you hear!" she demanded; "if you leave this house I's a goin', too!"

Marion waited until Martha led the other horse out, and then, with the negro woman following, she rode eastward on the Dawes trail, not once looking back.

And not a word did she say to Martha as they rode into the s.p.a.ce that stretched to Dawes, for the girl's heart was heavy with self-accusation.

They stopped for an instant at Mullarky's cabin, and Mrs. Mullarky drew from the girl the story of the morning's happenings. And like Martha, Mrs. Mullarky had an abiding faith in Taylor's innocence. More-she scorned the charge of murder against him.

"Squint Taylor murder your father, child! Why, Squint Taylor thought more of Larry Harlan than he does of his right hand. An' you ain't goin'

to run away from him-for the very good reason that I ain't goin' to let you! You're upset-that's what-an' you can't think as straight as you ought to. You come right in here an' sip a cup of tea, an' take a rest.

I'll put your horses away. If you don't want to stay at the Arrow while Taylor, the judge, an' all the rest of them are pullin' the packin' out of that case, why, you can stay right here!"

Yielding to the insistent demands of the good woman, Marion meekly consented and went inside. And Mrs. Mullarky tried to make her comfortable, and attempted to soothe her and a.s.sure her of Taylor's innocence.

But the girl was not convinced; and late in the afternoon, despite Mrs.

Mullarky's protests, she again mounted her horse and, followed by Martha, set out toward Dawes, intending to take the first east-bound train out of the town, to ride as far as the meager amount of money in her purse would take her. And as she rode, the sun went down behind the big hill on whose crest sat the big house, looming down upon the level from its lofty eminence; and the twilight came, bathing the world with its somber promise of greater darkness to follow. But the darkness that was coming over the world could not be greater than that which reigned in the girl's heart.

CHAPTER XXIX-THE CAPTIVE

Carrington's experiences with Taylor had not dulled the man's savage impulses, nor had they cooled his feverish desire for the possession of Marion Harlan. In his brain rioted the dark, unbridled pa.s.sions of those progenitors he had claimed in his talk with Parsons on the morning he had throttled the little man in his rooms above the Castle.

For the moment he had postponed the real beginning of his campaign for the possession of Dawes, his venomous hatred for Taylor and his pa.s.sion for the girl overwhelming his greed.

He had watched the departure of Keats and his men, a flush of exultation on his face, his eyes alight with fires that reflected the malignant hatred he felt. And when Keats and the others disappeared down the trail that led to the Arrow, Carrington spent some time in Dawes. Shortly after noon he rode out the river trail toward the big house with two men that he had engaged to set the interior in order.

Carrington had not seen the house since the fight with Taylor in the front room, and the wreck and ruin that met his gaze as he stood in the door brought a sullen pout to his lips.

But he intended to exact heavy punishment for what had occurred at the big house; and as he watched the men setting things to order-mending the doors and repairing the broken furniture-he drew mental pictures that made his eyes flash with pleasure.

He felt that by this time Keats and his men should have settled with Taylor. After that, he, himself, would make the girl pay.

So he was having the house put in order, that it would again be habitable; and then, when that was done, and Taylor out of the way, he would go to the Arrow after the girl. But before he went to the Arrow he would await the return of Keats with the news that Taylor would no longer be able to thwart him.

Never in his life had he met a man he feared as he feared Taylor. There was something about Taylor that made Carrington's soul shrivel. He knew what it was-it was his conviction of Taylor's absolute honorableness, as arrayed against his own beastly impulses. But that knowledge merely served to intensify his hatred for Taylor.

Toward evening Carrington rode back to Dawes with the men; and while there he sought news from Keats. Danforth, from whom he inquired, could tell him nothing, and so Carrington knew that Taylor had not yet been disposed of. But Carrington knew the time would not be long now; and in a resort of a questionable character he found two men who listened eagerly to his proposals. Later, the two men accompanying him, he again rode to the big house.

And just as dusk began to settle over the big level at the foot of the long slope-and while the last glowing light from the day still softly bathed the big house, throwing it into bold relief on the crest of its flat-topped hill, Carrington was standing on the front porch, impatiently scanning the basin for signs of Keats and his men.

For a time he could distinguish little in the basin, for the mists of twilight were heavy down there. And then a moving object far out in the basin caught his gaze, and he leaned forward, peering intently, consumed with eagerness and curiosity.

A few minutes later, still staring into the basin, Carrington became aware that there were two moving objects. They were headed toward Dawes, and proceeding slowly; and at last, when they came nearer and he saw they were two women, on horses, he stiffened and shaded his eyes with his hands. And then he exclaimed sharply, and his eyes glowed with triumph-for he had recognized the women as Marion Harlan and Martha.

Moving slowly, so that he might not attract the attention of the women, should they happen to be looking toward the big house, he went inside and spoke shortly to the two men he had brought with him.

An instant later the three, Carrington leading, rode into the timber surrounding the house, filed silently through it, and with their horses in a slow trot, sank down the long slope that led into the big basin.

For a time they were not visible, as they worked their way through the chaparral on a little level near the bottom of the slope; and then they came into view again in some tall saccaton gra.s.s that grew as high as the backs of their horses.

They might have been swimming in that much water, for all the sound they made as they headed through the gra.s.s toward the Dawes trail, for they made no sound, and only their heads and the heads of their horses appeared above the swaying gra.s.s.

But they were seen. Martha, riding at a little distance behind Marion, and straining her eyes to watch the trail ahead, noted the movement in the saccaton, and called sharply to the girl:

"They's somethin' movin' in that gra.s.s off to your right, honey! It wouldn't be no cattle, heah; they's never no cattle round heah, fo' they ain't no water. Lawsey!" she exclaimed, as she got a clear view of them; "it's men!"

Marion halted her horse. Martha's voice had startled her, for she had not been thinking of the present; her thoughts had been centered on Taylor.

A s.h.i.+ver of trepidation ran over her, though, when she saw the men, and she gathered the reins tightly in her hands, ready to wheel the animal under her should the appearance of the men indicate the imminence of danger.

And when she saw that danger did indeed threaten, she spoke to the horse and turned it toward the back trail. For she had recognized one of the three men as Carrington.

But the horse had not taken a dozen leaps before Carrington was beside her, his hand at her bridle. And as her horse came to a halt, Carrington's animal lunged against it, bringing the two riders close together. Carrington leaned over, his face close to hers; she could feel his breath in her face as he laughed jeeringly, his voice vibrating with pa.s.sion:

"So it _is_ you, eh? I thought for a moment that I had made a mistake!"

Holding to her horse's bridle-rein with a steady pull that kept the horses close together, he spoke sharply to the two men who had halted near Martha: "Get the n.i.g.g.e.r! I'll take care of this one!"

And instantly, with a brutal, ruthless strength and energy that took the girl completely by surprise, Carrington threw a swift arm out, grasped her by the waist, drew her out of the saddle, and swung her into his own, crosswise, so that she lay face up, looking at him.

She fought him then, silently, ferociously, though futilely. For he caught her hands, using both his own, pinning hers so that she could not use them, meanwhile laughing lowly at her efforts to escape.

Even in the dusk she could see the smiling, savage exultation in his eyes; the gloating, vindictive triumph, and her soul revolted at the horror in store for her, and the knowledge nerved her to another mighty effort. Tearing her hands free, she fought him again, scratching his face, striking him with all her force with her fists; squirming and twisting, even biting one of his hands when it came close to her lips as he essayed to grasp her throat, his eyes gleaming with ruthless malignance.

But her efforts availed little. In the end her arms were pinned again to her sides, and he pulled a rope from his saddle-horn and bound them.

Then, as she lay back and glared at him, muttering imprecations that brought a mocking smile to his lips, he urged his horse forward, and sent it clattering up the slope, the two men following with Martha.