The Cattle-Baron's Daughter

“We must go,” she said. “It would be too horrible if you should meet him.”

“Mrs. Grant is right,” said the storekeeper. “We know Torrance of Cedar, and if you stayed here, Larry, you and she might be sorry all your lives. Now, you could, by riding hard, make Canada to-morrow.”

Grant stifled a groan, and though his face was grim his voice was compassionate as he turned to Hetty.

“Are you very tired?” he said gently. “It must be the saddle again.”

Hetty said nothing, but she pressed his arm, and her eyes shone mistily when they went out together. Half an hour later they rode out of the town, and Grant turned to her when the clustering houses dipped behind a billowy rise, and they were once more alone in the empty prairie, with their faces towards Canada.

“I am ’most ashamed to look at you, but you will forgive me, little girl,” he said. “There are brighter days before us than your wedding one, and by and by I hope you will not be sorry you have borne so much for me.”

Hetty’s lips quivered a little, but the pride of the cattle-barons shone in her eyes. “I have nothing to forgive and am only very tired,” she said. “I shall never be sorry while you are kind to me, and I would have ridden to Canada if I had known that it would have killed me. The one thing I am afraid of is that you and he should meet.”

They rode on, speaking but seldom as the leagues went by, for Grant had much to think of and Hetty was very weary. Indeed, she swayed unevenly in her saddle, while the long, billowy levels shining in the sunlight rolled back, as it were, interminably to them, and now and then only saved herself from a fall by a clutch at the bridle. There were times when a drowsiness that would scarcely be shaken off crept upon her, and she roused herself with a strenuous effort and a horrible fear at her heart, knowing that if her strength failed her the blood of husband or father might be upon her head.

The sky was blue above them, the white sod warm below, and already chequered here and there with green; and, advancing in long battalion, crane and goose and mallard came up from the south to follow the sun towards the Pole. The iron winter had fled before it, and all nature smiled; but Hetty, who had often swept the prairie at a wild gallop, with her blood responding to the thrill of reawakening life that was in everything, rode with a set white face and drooping head, and Larry groaned as he glanced at her.

Late in the afternoon they dismounted, and Hetty lay with her head upon his shoulder while they rested amidst the grass. The provisions the storekeeper had given them were scattered about, but Hetty had tasted nothing, and Grant had only forced himself to swallow a few mouthfuls with difficulty. He had thrown an arm about her, and she lay with eyes closed, motionless.

Suddenly he raised his head and looked about him. Save for the sighing of the warm wind, the prairie was very still, and a low, white rise cut off from sight the leagues they had left behind, but, though a man from the cities would have heard nothing at all, Larry, straining his ears to listen, heard a sound just audible creep out of the silence. For a moment he sat rigid and intent, wondering if it was made by a flight of cranes; but he could see no dusky stain on the blue beyond the rise, and his fingers closed upon the rifle as the sound grew plainer. It rose and fell with a staccato rhythm in it, and he recognized the beat of hoofs. Turning, he gently touched the girl.

“Hetty, you must rouse yourself,” he said, with a pitiful quiver in his voice.

The girl slowly lifted her head, and glanced about her in a half-dazed fashion. Then, with an effort, she drew one foot under her, and again the fear shadowed her face.

“Oh,” she said, “they’re coming! Lift me, dear.”

Larry gently raised her to her feet, but it was a minute or two before she could stand upright, and the man’s face was haggard when he lifted her to the saddle.

“I think the end has come,” he said. “You can ride no farther.”

Hetty swayed a little; but she clutched the bridle, and a faint sparkle showed in her half-closed eyes.

“They want to take you from me. We will go on until we drop,” she said.

Larry got into the saddle, though he did not know how he accomplished it, and looked ahead anxiously as he shook the bridle. Away on the rim of the prairie there was a dusky smear, and he knew it was a birch-bluff, which would, if they could reach it, afford them shelter. In the open he would be at the cow-boys’ mercy; but a desperate man might at least check some of the pursuers among the trees, and he was not sure that Torrance, whose years must tell, would be among them. There was a very faint hope yet.

They went on at a gallop, though the horses obtained at Windsor were already jaded, and very slowly the bluff grew higher. Glancing over his shoulder, Grant saw a few moving objects straggle across the crest of the rise. They seemed to grow plainer while he watched them, and more appeared behind.

“We will make the bluff before them,” he said hoarsely. “Ride!”

He drove his heels home; but the beast he rode was flagging fast when, knowing how Torrance’s cow-boys were mounted, he glanced behind again. He could see them distinctly now, straggling, with wide hats bent by the wind and jackets fluttering, across the prairie. Here and there a rifle-barrel glinted, and the beat of their horses’ hoofs reached him plainly. One, riding furiously a few lengths ahead of the foremost, he guessed was Clavering, and he fancied he recognized the Sheriff in another; but he could not discern Torrance anywhere. He turned his eyes ahead and watched the bluff rise higher, though the white levels seemed to flit back to him with an exasperating slowness. Beyond it a faint grey smear rose towards the blue; but the jaded horse demanded most of his attention, for the sod was slippery here and there where the snow had lain in a hollow, and the beast stumbled now and then.

Still, the birches were drawing nearer, and Hetty holding ahead of him, though the roar of hoofs behind him told that the pursuers were coming up fast. He was not certain yet that he could reach the trees before they came upon him, and was clawing with one hand at his rifle when Hetty cried out faintly:

“There are more of them in front.”

Grant set his lips as a band of horsemen swung out of the shadows of the bluff. His eyes caught and recognized the glint of sunlight on metal; but in another moment his heart leaped, for through the drumming of their hoofs there came the musical jingle of steel, and he saw the men were dressed in blue uniform. He swung up his hat exultantly, and his voice reached the girl, hoarse and strained with relief.

“We are through. They are United States cavalry!”

The horsemen came on at a trot, until Grant and the girl rode up to them. Then, they pulled up, and when Grant had helped Hetty down their officer, who wheeled his horse, sat gazing at them curiously. Grant did not at once recognize him, but Hetty gasped.

“Larry,” she said faintly, “it’s Jack Cheyne.”

Grant drew her hand within his arm, and walked slowly forward past the wondering troopers. Then he raised his broad hat.

“I claim your protection for my wife, Captain Cheyne,” he said.

Cheyne sat very still a moment, looking down on him with a strained expression in his face; and Grant, who saw it, glanced at Hetty. She was leaning heavily upon him, her garments spattered with mire, but he could not see her eyes. Then Cheyne nodded gravely.

“Mrs. Grant can count upon it,” he said. “Those men were chasing you?”

“Yes,” said Grant. “One of them is the Sheriff. I believe he intends to arrest me.”

“Sheriff Slocane?”

“Yes. I shall resist capture by him; but I heard that the civil law would be suspended in this district, and if that has been done, I will give myself up to you.”

Cheyne nodded again. “Give one of the boys your rifle, and step back with Mrs. Grant in the meanwhile. You are on parole.”

He said something sharply, and there was a trample of hoofs and jingle of steel as the troopers swung into changed formation. They sat still as the cattle-men rode up, and when Clavering reined his horse in a few lengths away from them Cheyne acknowledged his salute.

“We have come after a notorious disturber of this district who has, I notice, taken refuge with you,” he said. “I must ask you to give him up.”

“I’m sorry,” said Cheyne firmly. “It can’t be done just yet.”

Clavering glanced at the men behind him – and there were a good many of them, all without fear, and irresponsible; then he looked at the little handful of troopers, and Cheyne’s face hardened as he saw the insolent significance of his glance.

“Hadn’t you better think it over? The boys are a little difficult to hold in hand, and we can’t go back without our man,” he said.

Cheyne eyed him steadily. “Mr. Grant has given himself up to me. If there is any charge against him it shall be gone into. In the meanwhile, draw your men off and dismount if you wish to talk to me.”

Clavering sat perfectly still, with an ironical smile on his lips. “Be wise, and don’t thrust yourself into this affair, which does not concern you, or you may regret it,” he said. “Here is a gentleman who will convince you.”

He backed his horse as another man rode forward and with an assumption of importance addressed Cheyne. “Now,” he said, “we don’t want any unpleasantness, but I have come for the person of Larry Grant, and I mean to take him.”

“Will you tell me who I have the honour of addressing?” said Cheyne.

“Sheriff Slocane. I have a warrant for Larry Grant, and you will put me to any inconvenience in carrying it out at your peril.”

Cheyne smiled drily. “Then, as it is evidently some days since you left home, I am afraid I have bad news for you. You are superseded, Mr. Slocane.”

The Sheriff’s face flushed darkly, Clavering’s grew set, and there was an angry murmur from the men behind them.

“Boys,” said Clavering, “are you going to be beaten by Larry again?”

There was a trampling of hoofs as some of the cow-boys edged their horses closer, and the murmurs grew louder; but Cheyne flung up one hand.

“Another word, and I’ll arrest you, Mr. Clavering,” he said. “Sling those rifles, all of you! I have another troop with horses picketed behind the bluff.”

There was sudden silence until the Sheriff spoke. “Boys,” he said, “don’t be blamed fools when it isn’t any use. Larry has come out on top again. But I don’t know that I am sorry I have done with him and the cattle-men.”

The men made no further sign of hostility, and Cheyne turned to the Sheriff. “Thank you,” he said. “Now, I have to inform you that this district is under martial law, and I have been entrusted, within limits, with jurisdiction. If you and Mr. Clavering have any offences to urge against Grant, I shall be pleased to hear you. In that case you can tell your men to picket their horses, and follow me to our bivouac.”

The two men dismounted, and while Hetty sat trembling amidst the birches talked for half an hour in Cheyne’s tent. Then, Clavering, who saw that they were gaining little, lost his head, and stood up white with anger.

“We are wasting time,” he said. “Still, I warn you that the State will hold you responsible if you turn that man loose again. Our wishes can still command a certain attention in high places.”

Cheyne smiled coldly. “I shall be quite prepared to account for whatever I do. The State, I fancy, is not to be dictated to by the cattle-men’s committees. It is, of course, no affair of mine, but I can’t help thinking that it will prove a trifle unfortunate for one or two of you that, when you asked for more cavalry, you were listened to.”

“Well,” said the Sheriff dejectedly, “I quite fancy it will be; but I’m not going to worry. The cattle-men made it blamed unpleasant for me. What was I superseded for, any way?”

“Incapacity and corruption, I believe,” Cheyne said drily.

Clavering stood still a moment, with an unpleasant look in his eyes, but the Sheriff, who seemed the least disconcerted, touched his arm.

“You come along before you do something you will be sorry for,” he said. “I’m not anxious for any unnecessary trouble, and it would have been considerably more sensible if I had stood in with the homestead-boys.”

They went away, and Cheyne led Larry, who had been confronted with them, back to where Hetty was sitting.

“I understand the men left your father behind, some distance back,” he said. “He was more fatigued than the rest and his horse went lame. Your husband’s case will have consideration, but I scarcely fancy he need have any great apprehension, and I must try to make you comfortable in the meanwhile.”

Hetty glanced up at him with her eyes shining and quivering lips. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “Larry, I am so tired.”

Cheyne called an orderly, and ten minutes later led her to a tent. “Your husband placed you in my charge, and I must ask for obedience,” he said. “You will eat and drink what you see there, and then go to sleep. I will take good care of Mr. Grant.”

He drew Larry away and sat talking with him for a while, then bade an orderly find him a waterproof sheet and rug. Larry was asleep within ten minutes, and the moon was shining above the bluff when he awakened and moved to the tent where Hetty lay. Drawing back the canvas, he crept in softly and dropped almost reverently on one knee beside her. He could hear her faint, restful breathing, and the little hand he felt for was pleasantly cool. As he stooped and touched her forehead with his lips, the fingers closed a trifle on his own, and the girl moved in her sleep. “Larry,” she said drowsily, “Larry, dear!”

Grant drew his hand away very softly, and went out with his heart throbbing furiously, to find Cheyne waiting in the vicinity. His face showed plain in the moonlight, and it was quietly grave; but Grant once more saw the expression in it that had astonished him. Now, however, he understood it, and Cheyne knew that he did so. They stood quite still a moment, looking into each other’s eyes.

“Mrs. Grant is resting well?” Cheyne asked.

“Yes,” said Larry. “I owe a good deal to you.”

It did not express what they felt, but they understood each other, and Cheyne smiled a little. “You need not thank me yet. Your case will require consideration, and if the new Sheriff urges his predecessor’s charge, I shall pass it on. In the meantime I have sent to Windsor for a buggy, in which you can take Mrs. Grant away to-morrow.”

It was early next morning when the buggy arrived, and Cheyne, who ordered two troopers to lead the hired horses, had a hasty breakfast served. When the plates had been removed he turned to Hetty with a smile.

“I have decided to release your husband – on condition that he drives straight back to his homestead and stays there with you,” he said. “The State has undertaken to keep order and give every man what he is entitled to now; and if we find Mr. Grant has a finger in any further trouble, I shall blame you.”

He handed Hetty into the buggy, passed the reins to Larry, and stood alone looking after them as they drove away. Hetty turned to her husband, with a blush in her cheek.

“Larry,” she said softly, “I have something to tell you.”

Grant checked her with a smile. “I have guessed it already; and it means a new responsibility.”

“I don’t understand,” said Hetty.

Again the little twinkle showed in Larry’s eyes. “Well,” he said quietly, “that you should have taken me when you had men of his kind to choose from means a good deal. I wouldn’t like you to find out that you had been mistaken, Hetty.”