The Freebooters of the Wilderness Part 31

The next night, they camped beside a chorus of waterfalls, joyous, gurgling, laughing silver water, not the sullen silent blood red streams of the Desert that flow without a sound but the plunk of the soft bank corroding and falling in. They could not talk. They lay in quiet, listening to the tinkle and trill and treble of the silver flow over the stones; to the little waves lipping and lisping and lapping through the gra.s.ses; and when the moon came up, every rill showed a silver light. Wayland was thinking,--need I tell what he was thinking?

Was he thinking at all; or was he drinking, drinking, drinking life from a fountain of memory immanent as present consciousness? He tossed restlessly. He sat up with his face in his hands. When he turned, the old man had risen and was stripping.

"A'm goin' t' find a pool an' go in, Wayland. Dry farmin' may be good for crops; but this dry bath business o' y'r Desert,--'tis not for a North man. Better come along! If A can find it to my neck, y'll need a cant hook to get me out 'fore daylight!"

They had come back from their plunge and were spreading the slickers above the fir branches for bed, when Matthews began to talk in a low dreamy voice, more as a man thinking out loud than one uttering a confessional. It was the first word of religion the Ranger had heard him utter. Wayland had really come to wonder when the old preacher prayed. When he came to know him better, he realized that a good man may pray standing on his feet, or striding to duty, readily as on p.r.o.ne knees.

"'Tis like the water o' life, Wayland! Men laugh at that phrase to-day! Oh, A know vera well, we've no time for an old or a new dispensation nowdays. We're too busy wi' the golden calf, an' the painted woman, an' th' market place, an' th' den o' thieves; an' when th' vision faileth, the people peris.h.!.+ 'Ye shall have a just balance an' a just ephah'; 'an' take away y'r offerings an' y'r burnt offerings an y'r gifts, saith the Lord of Hosts.' Ram _that_ down the throat of y'r church-buildin' thieves, an' y'r bribe-givin' pirates, who steal a billion out o' th' Nation's pocket, then take out an insurance policy against a h.e.l.l, they're no so sure doesn't exist, by givin' back a million t' th' people they've plundered! Tell me y'r old dispensation's past? A could preach a sermon from th' oldest book in the Bible w'ud burn up Fifth Avenue an' have y'r churches sendin' in a call for the p'lice t' cart me away t' a lunatic asylum! Ah, yes, A know they'll tell y' A'm not learned an' don't know Hebrew! No; but A know th' language o' th' man on the street; an A know life; an' A know G.o.d; an' A know how to putt righteousness in the end o' my doubled fist; which is what th' world is wantin'. Y'r learned men, what are they do in' for th' man on the street? 'Darkening counsel without knowledge,' while the people go gropin' in the dark for light.

"Y' wonder how a man, who was a whiskey smuggler an' a gambler an' a contractor, who could skin the Devil, comes to be a preacher, Wayland; a missionary t' th' Cree?"

"Yes, I have wondered, sometimes," confessed Wayland. "I could not just reconcile you with the poverty-stricken, down-in-the-mouth--"

"Don't say 'poverty-stricken', Wayland! A'm . . . rich. A've _never_ known want! G.o.d has taken care of me since A put it squarely up to Him! A've my wife! A've my children! A've my ranch; an' my ranch pays for the school! A've never known want! Why, man, thirty dollars a year is more than A need for m' clothes! A'm rich! What wud A be doin' goin' among a lot o' kiddie boys t' study Hebrew when A know the language o' the man on the street; an' A know G.o.d? 'Twas the bishop's idea t' have me come t' College at forty years o' age an' potter t'

A-B-C an' white collar an' clerics b.u.t.toned up the back an' a' the rest." The old frontiersman laughed. "Poh! What for wud A waste m'

years doin' that? A'd wasted forty servin' the Devil. A'd no more years t' waste. A must be up, up, up an' doin', Wayland, the way y'r up an' doin', for the Nation. A'd earned m' livin' when A served th'

Devil! A would earn m' livin' when A served G.o.d; an' as A spoke th'

Cree, A tackled them first; an' now we're buildin' our hospital.

"How did it happen, y' ask?" The old frontiersman sat down on a log.

"G.o.d knows! A don't! A can no more tell y', Wayland, what happened t'

me, than y' cud tell a man what comin' off th' Desert an' bathin' in a cool mountain stream was like; no more than y' cud tell what happened t' y', when y' first looked in her eyes an' read, love! G.o.d, man, it _was_ love! That's what happened t' me! A all of a sudden got t' see what life meant when ye bathed in love. G.o.d looked into m' eyes, Wayland, that was it! An' all th' dirt o' me shrivelled up an' th' mud in m' manhood, way yours did when y' looked in her eyes! A needed was.h.i.+n', Wayland, that was it, an' then A saw Him on the Cross as y'

see _that_--yon Cross there in the sky. 'Sense o' sin!' Man alive, A'd never heard them words till that night."

"What night?" asked Wayland, quietly.

"Oh, 'twas a hot night, Wayland, my boy; an' hot for more reasons than one. Th' tin horns an' the plugs an' the toots had come up t' our construction camp, an' of a Monday mornin' after Sunday's spree, y' cud count fifty dead navvies, c.h.i.n.ks an' j.a.ps an' dagoes, washed down th'

river after gamblers' fights an' chucked up in the sands o' Kickin'

Horse! Well, a lot o' big fellows o' th' railway company had come thro' that day on the first train. There was Strathcona, who was plain Donald Smith in them days, an' Van Horn, who was manager, an' Ross, who was contractor! A'd been workin' m' crews on the high span bridge, there,--y' don't know,--well no matter, 'tis the highest in the Rockies an' dangerous from a curve! A didn't want that train load o' directors to risk crossin': wasn't safe! M' crew hadn't one main girder placed; but Ross was a headstrong dour man; an' Smith--Smith wud a' sent a train thro' h.e.l.l in them days to prove that railway could be built.

Full lickety smash their train came onto that bridge o' mine off the sharp curve: the dagoes went yellow as cheese wi' fear, th' c.h.i.n.ks chattered in their jaws, an' the j.a.ps: well the j.a.ps hung on to the girder an' the cranes. A saw th' bridge heave an' swerve, an' th'

girder went smas.h.i.+n' to th' bottom o' yon creek bed so far below y'

could scarcely see the water; Ross was ridin' wi' th' engineer. Ross kept his head, ordered them to throw throttle open. All that saved that train load o' directors was th' train got across before th' weight smashed thro'; way a quick skater can cross thin ice. Man alive, but A was mad, riskin' m' crew o' two hundred workmen for a train load o'

rash directors! Th' train stopped! A dashed up! Ross opened out, his throttle was full open: so was mine; an' th' steam an' smoke escapin'

from yon big mogul,--well, Wayland, them was my unregenerate days! A may as well confess, Wayland, A gave him back all he'd given with sulphur thrown in extra; till Donald Smith poked his head out o' th'

private car callin', 'Go on, Ross! Go on, what are you delayin' for?'

Well, then, three of us contractors and th' company doctor was summoned to th' coast next week. We were all so mad at the fool rashness, we had our resignations in our pockets. They had our pay checks ready; but when they saw all four of us had our resignations written, well, everybody took a cool breath; an' A think mebbee th' wise little man o'

that private car sent across something to help us wash away bitter memories! Anyway, 'twas a hot night, Wayland! Y' couldn't drink one of the four under th' table; an' we had cashed our checks at the pay car! A was playin' wi' th' doctor for partner! Mebbee, it was that little night cap from the private car, mebbee, well, in an hour or two, three month's wages for four men was in the middle o' that table; an'

mebbee th' loafers in that saloon didn't sit up! Mebbee, somebody from that private car didn't saunter in t' look us four fools over! Wayland man, we won it all, th' doctor an' me! Th' other two wanted to play on their watches, they wud a' p.a.w.ned th' clothes off their backs; but we wouldn't let them! We gave 'em back enough to grub stake 'em back to their job! Then some one says, th' vera words: A can hear them yet, 'Let's go across an' hear those d.a.m.ned evangelists: there's a white faced whiskers, an' a little clean shaved jumpin' jack skippin' all over the backs o' the church seats pretendin' he's Henry Ward Beecher an' sayin' in a fog horn voice, 'I like that.' Let's go an' raise h.e.l.l.

"Wayland, man, we went across! 'Twas all true, there was the white faced fat man; an' there was the little clean chopped chap jumpin' all over the backs o' th' seats; an' there was a lot o' snivellin' Saints in Israel, women that cry an' sissie men that get converted an'

converted at every meetin'! Man, Wayland, A'd like to dump th' job lot o' such folks out in a cesspool! They do religion more harm than the Devil! They're about as like what fightin' Christians ought to be as a spit wad's like a bullet! Well, we went in with a whoop; but G.o.d wasn't out for the sissies that night, Wayland: he was out with a gun for red blood men! He got us, Wayland! That's all! 'Twasn't the poor puny preachers, perhaps 'twas th' music: th' fat one cud sing, but when we came out the doctor was cryin'; poor fellow he killed himself in D.

T.'s later; an' A was all plugged up wi' cold in m' head blowin' m'

nose! 'Boys,' says I, 'here's where I get off. Here's y'r money back.

A've put up a pretty good fight for the Devil so far an' A've earned m'

way! Now, A'm goin' t' fight for G.o.d an' earn m' way!' They didn't want to take the money back. They didn't believe it. A finished my job on the railroad, then A slummed it in th' cities, this was when the bishop tried to turn me school boy at forty, an' to dig in y'r graveyard o' theology; that was before m' brother was bishop and why, A hiked for Indians, Wayland! A know the Cree tongue, an' A know the need o' decency in th' tepees, an' A know the trick o' puttin'

Christianity into th' end o' m' fist on white blackguards! An' that's all."

"Is that all?" repeated Wayland; and he gave the old frontiersman the same kind of a look, Matthews had given him that day going up the face of the Pa.s.s precipice.

"Yes, that's all there was to it; an' A could no more tell y' what happened, Wayland, than y' could tell a man what happened when y'

jumped in that pool an' got washed clean! Better try it, Wayland!"

They sat late listening to the gurgle and trill and tinkle of the water slipping over the stones. Neither man said anything more, nor mouthed, nor kneeled, nor amened, nor did save as men among men do and say: but somehow Wayland had never felt so sure of the G.o.d, who was Love and whose Love washed men clean, being, as he told himself, 'on the job.'

It may not have been religion; and it may not have been theology; but I think it was the workable conviction that many a fighting man incorporates into his life. Perhaps, it was what Christians call Belief, only we have so slimed that good word over with hypocrisy that it's hard for fighting working men among men, women among women, people on the job, to mine down to the exact business sense of those old religious terms. 'Slimed with hypocrisy?' Yes, good friends, 'slimed with hypocrisy.' Have you not known men and women, legions of them, who shouted their fire-proof Belief, Belief, Belief, their fire-insurance Belief that was to roof them from rain of fire and act as an umbrella against the results of their own misdeeds; who underscored their Bibles, and prayed long and loud, and proclaimed themselves right, when every day, every act of every day, every leastermost act of very hour, shouted blasphemous denial of what so ever is lovely and pure and unselfish and Christlike; whose influence d.a.m.ned and injured and blighted every life it touched? You must not blame business men and women for wanting a workable faith, a faith that will deliver the goods on the job.

CHAPTER XXI

THE HAPPY AND TRIUMPHANT HOME-COMING

They were up before sunrise following along a rock trail against the face of a mountain through the morning mists, when they turned a sharp crag and came suddenly on one of those flower slopes bevelled out of the forests by snow or ice. The slant sunlight met their faces, and the mists were lifting in a curtain, with a riffle of wind that ran through the gra.s.ses like the ripple of waves to the touch of unseen feet. The slope lay literally a field of gold, spikes and umbels of gold--the gold of yellow midsummer light dyed in the asters and sunflowers and great flowered gaillardias and golden rod, with an odor of dried gra.s.ses or mint or cloves.

"By George," cried Wayland, "you'd not believe it! Only seven weeks; look!"

Matthews looked but apparently did not see.

"Don't you see? It's the place where the snow slide slumped down!"

"But where in the name o' conscience is all yon snow; and where's th'

bodies, Wayland?"

"Washed down to the bottom of the Lake Behind the Peak by this time; or you may find a great rock pile at the foot of the slope."

"A'm thinkin' they'll lie quiet till the crack o' doom, Wayland; but, but do y' no' see a tent back in yon larches across th' slide, man, where the thing knocked us both sprawlin'?"

"By George, yes, I do! Wonder if they're homesteading this next? It's off the N. F."

They put their ponies to an easy lope across the slope and came on a tepee tent with the flap laced tight and no sign of life, but a horse lazily floundering up beside a large fallen log, an empty whiskey bottle on the log, and a man's boot leg protruding from beneath the tent skirt.

"A'm wonderin' if there's a leg in that boot, Wayland."

"It's the sheriff's horse," said Wayland.

"It is, is it? And this is off y'r Forest Range; an' y'r not responsible for what A may be tempted to do?"

The old frontiersman literally avalanched off his broncho and made a dash at the tent flap, frapping it loudly with the flat of his hand.

"Here you--anybody inside?"

No response came from the owner of the leg.

"Here you, waken up." Matthews caught hold of the leg and pulled and pulled. There was a splutter of snorts, and, 'what in h.e.l.l's,' and the fat girth of an apple-shaped body ripped the tent pegging free and came out under the tepee skirt followed by another leg, and two oozy hands flabbily clawing at the gra.s.s roots to stop the unusual exit. One hand held a flat flask and the air became flavored with the second-hand fumes of a whiskey cask. The sheriff rolled over after the manner of apple-shaped bodies and sat up on the end of his spine rubbing his eyes. Then, he recollected the dignity of his office and got groggily to his feet, steadying himself by clutches at the tent flap. Then, he emitted a hiccough. "'Scuse m'," he said thickly. "I'm not well, thas ish not really well! Will one of y' pleash gimme a drink o' water? I been chasin' those d.a.m.n-cow-boy-outlawsh seven weeks sclean 'cross Shate Sline, I'm dead beat out. Thas you, ain't it Wayland? Kindsh o'

you both come after me! Saw y' pash tha' day y' called t' door! Wife tol' me to hide--not risk m' life, women 're all thas way; skeary; skeary. Well, I bin out ever s.h.i.+nce y' pashed! I nearly got 'em, too!

I caught 'em right in here day after shnow slide had 'em cornered!

Gosh, bullets was pretty thick fur about half-an-hour; bu' I cud'nt chross Shtate Line." Something in the old frontiersman's widening eyes and glowering brows stopped the flow of valor; and Sheriff Flood dragged his exhausted virtue across to the log with some difficulty as to knees and elbows, got himself turned round and seated.