MURDER

“How do you think you’d like to live in Crawling Water?”

Wade looked whimsically at Helen, as she picked her way with the grace of a kitten through the dust of the main street. Carefully though she walked, her shoes and the bottom of her skirt were covered with dust, and gray with it.

“I shouldn’t like it,” she said, with a little moue. “I don’t see why you stay here. You aren’t going to always, are you?”

“I reckon it’s likely.”

“Not for always?” She had stopped and was looking up into his face with delicious dismay. “That would be awful.”

“Most of my friends, and all of my business interests are here. Besides, I have a kind of pride in growing up with this country. Back in the East, things have been settled for so long that a man’s only a cog in a machine. Out here, a fellow has a sense of ownership, even in the hills. I think it’s because he gets closer to the soil, until he comes to love it and to be almost a part of it.”

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed the girl. “That sounds fine, but the reality isn’t up to my anticipation of it.”

Wade laughed in his hearty way.

“That’s only because you haven’t been here long enough, Helen.”

“There are things that are splendid about the West,” she generously admitted. “Its vastness and wholesomeness, and especially its men. I’m sure that’s why I first liked you, Gordon, because you were different not like the general run of young men in the East.”

“Oh, there are lots of good men East, too.”

“Not so very many. At least, I have seen very few who were at all worth while. There’s one, Maxwell Frayne, who has been plaguing me for months; but I don’t care for him much.” She was closely watching him as she spoke, and she smiled when he started.

“You’d better not.”

“But if I really thought you meant to stay here all the time, I’m sure I’d love him devotedly. Now” she eyed him mischievously “I think this would be a nice place to call home, don’t you know, just for fun, and then spend most of the time in New York and London. See that man staring at me!”

“How, staring at you?”

Wade turned and looked in the direction she indicated, surprised at the suggestion that she was being annoyed in Crawling Water, where chivalry to women ran high.

“Oh, he didn’t mean anything, I daresay.”

“They’re friends of mine, and curious, perhaps.” He referred to a group of cattlemen across the street, who did seem to be staring and talking, with some indecision in their attitude. “I wonder if anything can have happened? Oh, I guess not. Well, what would I do in London?”

“I didn’t say anything about you being in London, did I?”

“Well, it’s safe to say that where you were, I’d want to be, at any rate. Haven’t I made two trips to Chicago for no real reason except to see you?” he demanded, fast slipping into the thralldom of her fascination.

She viewed him through half-closed eyes, knowing that the pose has always allured him.

“Don’t you think you’d be kept busy looking after me?” she playfully asked. “Seriously, I hate an idle man, but I don’t know what you’d find to do there. What a question. You’d have to have investments that would take you over every year or two.”

“Now you’re trying to make a city man of me,” he said, half in jest. “Besides,” a dogged note crept into his voice “I’d have the right to expect something of you, wouldn’t I?”

“Not the right, but the privilege,” she answered softly.

“This is where the Purnells live.” He turned her into the pathway to the door. “This is what I’d like, a neat little home like this, with a couple of kiddies and some dogs. Then I could spend my out-door time at the ranch.”

Before Helen could reply to this, Mrs. Purnell appeared on the threshold to welcome them, but to Wade’s surprise, she told them that Dorothy was not there.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Helen, with intense relief.

“I don’t know where she went either,” the mother went on. “She was out for a few minutes soon after you left, Gordon. Then she came back and called out something to me, but I didn’t catch what she said. Before I knew what she was doing she had saddled her pony and ridden off. But come right in. I don’t think she’ll be gone long.”

They entered and Helen, graciously choosing to overlook the fact that this was evidently Wade’s second visit there within a very short time, sought to impress him with her tactfulness to Mrs. Purnell. She would have been amazed could she have guessed that she was actually arousing him to resentment. He felt, somehow, that she was patronizing their hostess, who was a woman of refinement, even if she lacked the artificiality of manner that Helen affected. He was sincerely glad when the visit came to an end.

“You must come again,” said Mrs. Purnell, in a spirit of friendliness.

“So glad to have met you,” Helen replied. “I hope to have the pleasure of meeting your daughter, too, before we leave Crawling Water.”

“They’re splendid women, both of them,” Wade remarked, as they walked back toward the center of the town.

“Oh, yes,” Helen agreed, without much spirit. “Nice, comfortable home people, I suppose.”

“Best kind in the world.”

“Gordon!” Helen laughed good-naturedly, facing him as she walked. “What in the world has been the matter with you to-day? We usually get on so well together, and to-day, if I do say it, only my unwillingness to quarrel has kept us from it.”

“Oh, no!” He smiled, too. “Maybe that New York and London business rubbed me the wrong way; that’s all. I have plenty of faults, but I’m loyal to my friends. I don’t like even hints that they aren’t the best friends a man could have.”

“Surely, I haven’t....”

“Maybe not. Maybe I imagined it. But Crawling Water is a lot more real than London, to my way of thinking.”

“You haven’t been to London.”

“I’m not likely to go, either,” he retorted.

Her red lips curled in a way that seemed to indicate that she thought he would go. Already, she was planning to get him out of Crawling Water and beyond the influence of Dorothy Purnell.

As they turned into the main street again, a man leaving a group near the livery stable, and mounting a horse, rode toward them.

“I wonder what’s up now?” Wade muttered, recognizing the horseman as one of the Trowbridge outfit.

“Mr. Wade. Just a minute.” With the grace of a Centaur, the rider swung his mount in beside them and doffed his hat. “Two of Jensen’s herders have been shot. I thought you ought to know about it.”

“What?” The ranch owner’s jaw dropped at the news.

“It’s true, sir. Word just came in.”

“Thanks, Barker.” Wade pulled himself together, as the restless pony raced back to the barn. “I must go, Helen,” he went on, turning to the girl at his side. “There’s been fighting murder, perhaps out near the ranch. Santry will need me.” He was uneasy lest the old plainsman should have been concerned in the shooting.

“You’ll take me to the hotel?”

“Of course, yes! Would you mind walking a little faster?” They quickened their pace. “I’m sorry, Helen; but I must hurry to the ranch.” Even at that moment he could not but reflect that there would have been no need to take Dorothy home. Somehow, the ways of the East seemed to fit less and less aptly into the life of Crawling Water.

On his way to the livery stable after his horse, Wade did some rapid thinking. Santry might have been concerned in the shooting, but his employer thought not. The old fellow had promised to stay at home, and his word was as good as another man’s bond. It was too bad, certainly, that the thing should have happened just when Senator Rexhill’s promised aid had seemed in a fair way to settle the controversy. Now, the whole thing was more upset than ever, for Moran and Rexhill could hardly be blamed if they backed up their own men, especially if the herders had been blameless, as was probably the case. Yet if the Senator did this, Wade knew that a bloody little war would be the outcome.

“Where’s Trowbridge, Barker?” he asked of the cowpuncher, whom he found waiting at the stable.

“At the ranch, I think.”

Wade nodded. Ten minutes later he was in the saddle and headed for the mountains, just as dusk began to fall. The cool night air, blowing against his face as he reached the higher levels, was delightfully refreshing after the heat of the day. He took off his hat and opened the neck of his shirt to the breeze, which revived his energies like wine. He knew that as he felt, so his horse felt, and he was glad, for the animal would have to make a fast, hard trip. At the crest of the first hills, before dipping into the valley, he turned for an instant in his saddle to look backward over his trail toward the twinkling lights of Crawling Water in the distance below.

He had covered some five miles of his journey, to no other sound than the occasional note of some bird, when his quick ears caught the thud of a horse’s feet on the trail ahead, with now and then a sharp clatter as the animal slipped on the stones. Wade slowed his own horse down to a walk, and eased his Colt in its holster. He expected to meet some harmless wayfarer, but, under the circumstances, it was just as well to be prepared for trouble. Soon, however, he smiled to himself, for whoever rode toward him made too much noise for any but a peaceful mission. The other horse, too, had been slowed down and the two riders approached each other with such caution that the rancher finally became impatient and pressed forward recklessly.

Out of the night the stranger came on, still slowly, until a turn in the trail brought them face to face.

“Don’t shoot!” said a woman’s contralto. “I’m a friend.”

“Dorothy!” Wade ejaculated, at once recognizing the voice, although he could not see the girl distinctly in the darkness. “In Heaven’s name, what are you doing out here?”

“Is it you, Gordon?” In her relief, she laughed softly as she pulled her pony up side of him. “I was a little scared for a second or two. I’ve awfully bad news, I’m afraid,” she added, immediately serious. “I’ve been trying to find you. I went to the hotel and they told me you’d gone somewhere.”

“Miss Rexhill and I went to call on you.”

“You did? If I’d only known. I’ve been clear out to the ranch.”

“Is Santry there?” In his anxiety he forgot momentarily the loneliness of her long ride. “They say some of Jensen’s men have been shot up; and I’m anxious to find out what Bill knows.”

“That’s just what I want to tell you. I heard of the shooting before I left town. Whoa, Gypsy!” She reined up her pony, nervously, for it would not stand still. Wade seized the animal’s bridle and quieted it. “I don’t know if he’s there or not,” the girl went on. “I couldn’t see. The ranch house is full of men.”

“Men? What men?” Wade demanded sharply.

“Race Moran’s crowd. They went out to arrest Santry. The Sheriff is with them. I heard part of it in town, and that’s why I tried to find you.” Wade groaned. “I peeped in at a window, and when I could see neither you nor Santry I slipped away without being seen and took the old trail back because it was shorter.”

“Lord, what a mess!” Wade ground his teeth savagely. “Poor old Bill was all alone there and they must have surprised him. But I don’t see why Barker didn’t mention the posse when he told me of the shooting?”

“He didn’t know of it, probably. They left town very quietly. I happened to be out back of the house and I heard one of them talking as they rode by.”

“Good Lord!” Wade’s head drooped. “I told Bill to stay at the ranch, and he promised me....”

“I don’t believe he shot Jensen at all,” Dorothy declared, with spirit. “Yes, it was Jensen himself and one of his herders. Both in the back killed.”

“Bill Santry never shot any man in the back,” Wade declared, in a relieved tone. “If you’re sure of the facts, Santry will come clear all right.”

“It’s just a devilish scheme of Moran’s, that’s all, to put it on you and Santry. I’m sure it is. He hates you both. Whoa, Gypsy!” She reined the little mare in again. “No, it’s all right, Gordon. I can manage her,” she remonstrated, as he reached for the bridle once more.

“So that’s their game, eh? By Heaven, I more than half believe you’re right.” His face grew ugly with rage. “Dorothy,” he continued grimly, “thanks are useless. You’re a brick, that’s all. Do one thing more for us, will you?”

“Anything,” she replied simply, her eyes shining with devotion to him, but he was too overwrought to read them in the darkness.

“When you get back to town get word to some of the men for me. You may meet them on the way out, if not they’ll be around the barn. Tell them to meet me at the big pine, on the old trail.”

His horse had grown restless and now he allowed it to have its head; he was moving past her when she clutched his arm.

“Gordon!”

She loved him dearly, too dearly to let him know how well until he should speak, if he ever did speak; but above them was the starlit sky and over them hovered the wondrous spirit of the Western night. Her pulse was beating, too, to the call of danger, and despite the control which she had over her nerves, she was just a bit hysterical beneath the surface. She knew that ahead of him was a little army of hostile men, and already that day two men had been killed. So, tremulously, she held on to his sleeve, until she stopped him.

“What are you going to do? You can’t do anything alone against so many. They may kill you.”

Her sympathy was very sweet to him and he warmly squeezed the little hand which had held him back.

“Don’t you be afraid, little girl,” he said tenderly. “I shall not get hurt if I can help it.”

“Wait until the others come, won’t you?”

“Surely,” he answered readily, touched by the anxiety in her voice. “I’m going to look around just as you did on the quiet. You wouldn’t hold me back, where you went in, now would you?”

“No !” She smiled a little into his face.

“That’s the stuff! Then I’m coming back to the big pine, and you’ll send the boys there. They’ll not put Santry in jail if we can prevent them. They’ve played their last card to-night. It’s war from now on.”

“All right, Gordon, I’ll go.” Her voice was full of courage again; the moment of weakness had passed. “Remember now, take good care of yourself.”

“You bet,” he retorted cheerily, and as her mare moved ahead, he caught her arm as she had caught his. She went quite limp in her saddle and swayed toward him, but he merely added: “You’re a wonder, Dorothy.”

He released her then, and with a wave of her hand she disappeared into the night. Not until she was beyond recall did he realize that he might have kissed her; that she had wanted him to kiss her, for the first time since they had known each other. He sat in abstraction for several moments before he shook the reins in his hand and his horse sprang forward.

“I’ve kissed one girl to-day,” he muttered aloud, “and I reckon that’s enough.”