The Man Thou Gavest Part 9

This was wholly false. White never took any one into his business secrets, least of all Greyson for whom he had deep contempt. "But I don't call that clean to us-all, Jed. We don't want strangers to catch Burke; we don't want them to--to string him up or shoot him full of holes; what we-all want is to force White to hand him over to justice, give him a fair trial, and then send him to one of them prison traps to eat his soul out behind bars. Jed--just you shut your eyes and _see_ Burke Lawson behind bars--eating sop from a pan, drinking prison water--just you call that picture up."

Jed endeavoured to do so and it grew upon his imagination.

"We-all wants to trail him," Greyson continued, "we don't want to give him a free pa.s.sage to Kingdom-Come by rope or shot--we-all want prison for Lawson, prison!"

As Jed was the one most concerned, this edict went abroad by mountain wireless.

"Catch him alive!" Friend and foe were alert.

"And when all's fixed and done--when Burke's trapped," Greyson said, "what you going to do--for me, Jed?"

This was a startling, new development.

"I didn't reckon yo' war doin' this--fur pay!" Jed faltered. Then Greyson came forth:

"No pay, Jed. Gawd knows I do my duty as I see it. But being keen about duty, I see more than one duty. When you catch and cage Lawson, Jed, I want to be something closer to you than a friend."

"Closer than--" Jed gasped.

"And duty drives me to confess to you, Jed, that the happiness of a lady is at stake."

Jed merely gaped now. Visions of Nella-Rose made him giddy and speechless.

"The day you put Lawson in jail, Jed, that day I'll give you the hand of my daughter. She loves you; she has confessed! You shall come here and share--everything! The hour that Burke is convicted--Marg is yours!"

"Marg!" The word came on a gasp.

"Not a word!" Greyson waved his hand in a princely way--this gesture was an heirloom from his ancestry. "I understand your feelings--I've seen what has been going on--but naturally I want my daughter to marry one worthy of her. You shall have my Marg when you have proven yourself!

I've misjudged you, Jed, but this will wipe away old scores."

With a sickening sense of being absorbed, Jed sank into black silence.

If Marg wanted him and old Greyson was helping her, there was no hope!

Blood and desire would conquer every time; every mountaineer recognized that!

And so things were seething under a surface of deadly calm, when Truedale, believing that he had himself well in control, packed his gunny sack and started forth for a long tramp. He had no particular destination in mind--in fact, the soft, dreamy autumn day lulled him to mental inertia--he simply went along, but he went as directly toward the rhododendron slick as though he had long planned his actions. However, it was late afternoon before he came upon Nella-Rose.

On the instant he realized that he had been searching for her all day.

His stern standards crumbled and became dry dust. One might as well apply standards to flickering sunlight or to swirling trifles of mountain mist as to Nella-Rose. She came upon him gaily; the dogs had discovered her on one of their ventures and were now quietly accompanying her.

"I--I've been looking for you--all day!" Truedale admitted, with truth but indiscretion. And then he noted, as he had before, the strange impression the girl gave of having been blown upon the scene. The pretty, soft hair resting on the cheek in a bewildering curve; the large, dreamy eyes and black lashes; the close clinging of her shabby costume, as if wrapped about her slim body by the playful gale that had wafted her along; all held part in the illusion.

"I had to--to lead Marg to Devil-may-come Hollow. She's hunting there now!" Nella-Rose's white teeth showed in a mischievous smile. "We're right safe with Marg down there, scurrying around. Come, I know a sunny place--I want to tell you about Marg."

Her childish appropriation of him completed Truedale's surrender. The absolute lack of self-consciousness drove the last remnant of caution away. They found the sunny spot--it was like a dimple in a hill that had caught the warmth and brightness and held them always to the exclusion of shadows. It almost seemed that night could never conquer the nook.

And while they rested there, Nella-Rose told him of the belief of the natives that he was the refugee Lawson.

"And Marg would give you up like--er--this" (Nella-Rose puffed an imaginary trifle away with her pretty pursed lips). "She trailed after me all day--she lost me in a place where hiding's good--and there I left her! She'll tell Jed Martin this evening when she gets back. Marg is scenting Burke for Jed and his kind to catch--that's her way and Jed's!"

Stinging contempt rang in the girl's voice.

"But not your way I bet, Nella-Rose." The fun, not the danger, of the situation struck Truedale.

"No!--I'd do it all myself! I'd either warn him and have done with it, or I'd stand by him."

"I'm not sure that I like the misunderstanding about me," Truedale half playfully remarked, "they may shoot me in the back before they find out."

"Do you" (and here Nella-Rose's face fell into serious, dangerously sweet, lines), "do you reckon I would leave you to them-all if there was that danger? They don't aim to shoot or string Burke up; they reckon they'll take him alive and--get him locked up in jail to--to--"

"What, Nella-Rose?"

"Die of longing!"

"Is that what would happen to Burke Lawson?"

The girl nodded. Then the entrancing mischief returned to her eyes and she became a child once more--a creature so infinitely young that Truedale seemed grandfatherly by comparison.

"Can't you see how mighty funny it will be to lead them and let them follow on and then some day--they'll plump right up on you and find out!

G.o.dda'mighty!"

Irresponsible mirth swayed the girl to and fro. She laughed, silently, until the tears stood in the clear eyes. Truedale caught the spirit of her mood and laughed with her. The picture she portrayed of setting jealousy, malice, and stupidity upon the wrong trail was very funny, but suddenly he paused and said seriously:

"But in the meantime this Burke Lawson may return; you may be the death of him with your pranks."

Nella-Rose shook her head. "I would know!" she declared confidently. "I know everything that's going on in the hills. Burke would let me know--first!"

"It's like melodrama," Truedale murmured half to himself. By some trick of fancy he seemed to be looking on as Brace Kendall might have. The thought brought him to bay. What would good old Brace do in the present situation?

"What is melodrama?" Nella-Rose never let a new word or suggestion escape her. She was as keen as she was dramatic and mischievous.

"It would be hard to make you understand--but see here"--Truedale drew the gunny sack to him--"I bet you're hungry!" He deliberately put Brace from his thoughts.

"I reckon I am." The lovely eyes were fixed upon the hand that was bringing forth the choicest morsels of the food prepared early that morning. As he laid the little feast before her, Truedale acknowledged that, in a vague way, he had been saving the morsels for Nella-Rose even while he had fed, earlier, upon coa.r.s.er fare.

"I don't know about giving you a chicken wing!" he said playfully. "You look as if you were about to fly away as it is--but unfortunately I've eaten both legs!"

"Oh! please"--Nella-Rose reached across the narrow s.p.a.ce separating them, she was pleading prettily--"I just naturally admire wings!"

"I bet you do! Well, eat plenty of bread with them. And see here, Nella-Rose, while you are eating I'm going to read a story to you. It is the sort of thing that we call melodrama."

"Oh!" This through the dainty nibbling of the coveted wing. "I'm right fond of stories."

"Keep quiet now!" commanded Truedale and he began the spirited tale of love and high adventure that, like the tidbits, he knew he had brought for Nella-Rose!

The warm autumn sun fell upon them for a full hour, then it s.h.i.+fted and the chill of the approaching evening warned the reader of the flight of time. He stopped suddenly to find that his companion had long since forgotten her hunger and food. Across the debris she bent, absorbed and tense. Her hands were clasped close--cold, little hands they were--and her big eyes were strained and wonder-filled.

"Is that--all?" she asked, hoa.r.s.ely.

"Why, no, child, there's more."