The Way of the Strong
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So he rushed headlong back to Deep Willows to pass the time of waiting with what patience he could. Humanly speaking, he had played his last card for the saving of that one life, so there was nothing left for him but to pace the floors of his luxurious home hoping and fearing, now threatening to himself the life of the man who had made the chances of timely help so remote, now praying to Almighty God, as never in his life he had prayed before, to spare him the life he loved.
He had reached the one terrific moment in his life when he realized that the world, in which his heart and mind had been so long wrapped, meant nothing. He was down to the bare skeleton of human nature when primal passions alone counted. He knew that he had shed for ever the coat of civilization. It had always fitted him ill. Now the natural love of man for woman, male for female, in its simplest form, dominated his whole being. And with it came all those savage instincts with which the natural world seeks to protect its own.
The destruction of his wheat lands passed him by. He did not see that blackened world as his loyal servant Angus saw it. He had neither patience nor inclination to listen to lamentations, just as he had no lamentation to make over it for himself.
His attitude reflected itself in his surroundings. The house remained silent as the grave. Angus avoided him, and devoted all his attention to his prisoner. The nurses and the doctor devoted themselves to the last ounce of their strength to their patient; and the servants went about their duties with hushed voices, which left the great house with the atmosphere of a sepulcher.
Hendrie rarely left his library. Hour after hour he spent in desperate solitude. His pretence was work, but he did none. And Phyllis alone dared to approach him.
From her he drew some comfort. Her wonderful tact, and even affection, showed her the way to bring him a measure of that mental ease he so desperately needed. Only once during that terrible week of waiting did she make a mistake. She knew she had made it the moment the words had passed her lips, and it became a lesson she knew she would never need again.
It was on the fourth day of Frank's absence. She was beginning to catch something of the infection of Hendrie's restless unease. Doubt of the success of Frank's mission was creeping through her armor of optimism. She was troubled, and so her moment of weakness came.
"I – I wonder if he'll succeed. I wonder – if he'll be in time," she said.
Then in a moment she caught her breath at the sudden and awful expression of the man's eyes. They blazed up with a wild, insane light. He broke into a loud, harsh laugh.
"If he doesn't, you'll see me at the gallows, girl," he cried.
Phyllis had cried out in protest. Then, in something like panic, she rushed from the room.
That night she was haunted by dreams so hideous that long before daylight she had left her bed, and joined the night nurse.
Once more her fear got the better of her, but here she was met by the practical trained mind of a woman who was devoted to her work.
"If Hinkling doesn't get here to-morrow, or the next day – well, poor soul, she's in the hands of some one who knows best. Doctor Fraser gave too big a margin, I think. Still – we must hope for the best. Poor soul, she knows nothing – so she can't be suffering. I see Mr. Hendrie's light is still burning in the library. He'll be in the doctor's hands if Hinkling doesn't get here – in time."
Phyllis agreed. She knew it, too. She knew the desperate condition of the man's mind, and her knowledge told her that the balance was wavering.
The fifth day dawned. Still there was no news. But none could reach them. The day after Hendrie's return from Calford the telegraph wires had been cut, and, since then, all communication had been left intermittent. The wires were repaired, and, within a few hours, cut again. And so it had gone on. The automobile had been waiting in Calford for two days now, and all knew that the only indication of the success of Frank's mission would be the return of the vehicle with its precious freight.
Thus on this day all eyes and thoughts turned upon the trail through the blackened wheat fields.
*****It was noon. Phyllis and the millionaire were standing at the entrance porch. The sun was beating down upon their bare heads all unnoticed, all uncared. The eyes of the man never left the sweep of the trail where it rounded the skeleton woods which lined the river bank. The girl had wearied of the straining, and now watched her companion.
In her heart was a great pity for him. His eyes were no longer the steady eyes she knew so well. They were bloodshot and sunken. The veins at his temples, and of his neck, were standing out like ropes. It seemed to her imagination that all his great bodily strength was concentrated at the breaking point. Painful as was her own anxiety, it was as nothing beside the fear his attitude inspired her with. If Frank failed? – but she dared not think of it.
Suddenly she started. Just for one moment a look of dreadful doubt looked out of her eyes, now abruptly turned upon the trail again. Had her prairie-trained ears deceived her, or – ? She dared not glance again in Hendrie's direction until she was sure. She listened. Then a wild excitement lit her face. She moved. She reached out. One hand suddenly gripped the arm of the man beside her. He made a movement as though to free himself, but her nervous clutch only tightened.
"Listen!" she cried. Then in a moment: "Oh, if he's succeeded. Oh, if he's only got him with him!"
"Silence, child!"
The man's harsh voice rang out, and Phyllis, even in her excitement, quailed at the tone.
Now, side by side, with eyes and ears straining, the girl still clinging to the man's arm, they stood waiting.
That familiar purr. Soft, soft, a low, deep note thrilling with hope for the watchers. But it was far away, so far that the man, whose ears were less well trained, could only just hear it.
To Phyllis it was distinct now, and growing in volume with each passing moment. Oh, that precious note. What music. No such perfect music could ever have fallen on straining ears. Its gentle softness suggested but one thing to the girl. It was the hope of life. She felt that no such warmth, no such modulation could have been in that which was the herald of disaster.
The man's imagination was less sensitive. His usually firm mouth was twitching. There was water in his eyes, but it was not tears, nor was it the result of excitement. It was the strain he was putting forth to catch the first sight of the vehicle, and count its passengers as it came.
He shivered once. The girl felt the shiver, and she, too, shook with excitement. She was leaning forward.
At last she could stand it no longer. She broke from her companion, and flew down the trail as fast as her active young limbs could carry her. She must be the first to convey the good news to the breaking heart of the man who remained standing, like one paralyzed, by the porch of his splendid home.
On she ran, on and on, till she came to the bend where the river turned away, and the open trail went straight on, and the bluffs of Everton lay in full view.
Here she halted and gazed out. For some moments she stood watching, watching. Then, at last, she turned and began to run back, waving her hands in a frenzy of ecstasy as she came.
In a few moments she was within hailing distance of the man, and she halted.
"Four of them!" she gasped frantically. "Four of them in the car! Frank's brought him! Frank's brought him!"
CHAPTER XX
THE STORY OF LEO
It was evening. The afterglow of sunset still shed its golden radiance upon a blackened world, striving vainly to burnish with its gentle luster the depressing aspect of charred fields. The cool August breezes, usually so fresh and sweet at sundown, were tainted, scarcely unpleasantly, with the reek of dead fire.
Two figures, apparently absorbed in themselves, were pacing slowly the broad trail which fronted Deep Willows. They were talking, talking earnestly of those things which concerned their lives, while their anxious hearts were waiting with almost sickening dread, for the moment when a summons should reach them, that they might learn the verdict of hope or disaster which Providence had in store for them.
They knew, these two, these boy and girl lovers, that the life of the one they had learned to love so dearly was hovering in the balance. They knew that the great surgeon, who had journeyed so far, and under such strenuous conditions, was waging the human side of a great battle.
Was he once more to be victorious over Death, or would that ruthless specter at last defy him? The man was accounted infallible by a thankful world. He had come to the rescue fully prepared for a great fight. He had brought not only his own dresser, but also his own anesthetist, while two competent nurses and another medical man were on the premises. So these two hoped, while their hearts were yet plunged in a perfect maelstrom of fears.
They were striving with all their might to pass the hours of waiting. Professor Hinkling had been with his patient from the moment of his arrival soon after noon. He was still with her now, when the great August sun had set amid its glory of fiery cloud.
Phyllis halted in her walk. Quite abruptly she raised a pair of earnest, admiring eyes to her lover's face. In their depths lay all that which can raise a man to a perfect paradise of joy and hope. Never had her woman's attraction been more evident to young Frank than at that moment. Never in his life had he realized more fully than at this moment all he had so recently striven to crush out of his life and deny himself for ever.
"Say, Frank, dear," she cried ardently. "The more I think, why, the more I just love to feel you – you are my Frank, and it was you, and you only, could have brought Professor Hinkling through here. Say, you must have been well-nigh crazy with the worry – and – and anxiety. Oh, if you'd only known how we, Mr. Hendrie and I, felt standing right here to-day waiting – waiting with scarcely a reason to hope you'd make Deep Willows in time. D'you know, Mr. Hendrie was well-nigh clean crazed – sure?" She shuddered. "I never saw a crazy man before, but he was crazy then. I watched him. I was scared – scared to death."
Frank looked out over at the great house. Suddenly he breathed a deep sigh.
"I'm glad, Phyl," he said presently. "I'm glad – I got here in time. I'm glad, not only for poor Mon, but for – him." He looked down into the girl's eyes, and a half smile crept into his own: "It's all so queer," he went on. "I – I ought to hate that man. Yes, I ought. And I just feel like a sort of soft worm for not doing so. That's a fact, Phyl. I don't hate him. I – I like him. Do you know I seem to have seen into him, right deep down into his heart, and it's – a queer place. But I've seen something there that appeals to me. It appeals to me so big that I – simply can't hate him. It's his big manhood. He's full to the brim of something that I've never understood before. Something I'm just beginning to understand. And, d'you know, I don't believe there's nearly so much of it going around as folks pretend to believe. Do you know, Phyl, I believe if that man were dying to-morrow he'd just get right hold of Death, and – and he'd try to choke the life out of him before he'd give in."
Phyllis nodded her head wisely.
"You're right, dear," she cried impulsively. "Can you wonder he's where he is? Can you wonder he's right on top of the things other folks are shouting for, but haven't the strength, or grit to – to just grab hold of for themselves? You're feeling just like I do about him. Guess he's so big in spirit as well as body. That's why he's on top. It's – it's always the way."
"Yes," Frank admitted, "that's how you've always said – and I think – now – you're right. I didn't always think so – but I do now."
Phyllis turned away. She was gazing across at the house, and a deep look of enthusiasm and hope was shining in her eyes.
"Do you know, Frank," she said, after a pause. "I sort of feel our Mon will win out – now. No, I'm not just thinking of Professor Hinkling. I'm thinking of Mr. Hendrie. I sort of feel he's got to win out in – everything. His whole mind and heart's on Monica's recovery, and – and I believe they're too big and strong for Fate to break him. Oh, I'm foolish, I know. I'm talking like a crazy girl, but I just can't help it. I believe he's too strong even – for Fate."
Frank, too, was gazing across at the house. A curious look had crept into his eyes. They were stern, stern and cold, and his jaws had shut tight.
Phyllis, glancing up at him, wondered. It was the first time in her life she had seen such a look in her lover's eyes. Never, even in those dark days when he had first left prison, had she seen such a look in him. And yet it was quite familiar. It was a look she knew quite well.
She started, and an irresistible impulse stirred her.
"Frank! Oh, Frank!" she cried. "If you could only see yourself. Tell me, dear. What are you thinking?"
"Thinking?"
The look had passed. The man's eyes were now gently smiling down into the girl's eager face.
"I was thinking of you, Phyl," he said tenderly. "I was thinking of you in Mon's place, and of myself in Hendrie's. I was thinking of what I should do. Of how I should feel. I was thinking that I, too, should want to take Fate in my two hands and compel it to do my will."
His face was flushing with boyish shame at the apparent boastfulness of his words, but he had spoken the truth.
But Phyllis saw nothing of the braggart in his words.
"I knew it, I knew it," she cried, her eyes shining with love and admiration. "Your face was the face of Alexander Hendrie just now. I have seen that look in his, not once, but a hundred times, and – then it was in yours. Oh, Frank, I am so glad, so – so glad you felt like that. I long to think and feel that now the old miserable past is over and done with, that you, too, will take life in your two strong hands, and – and fight out the big battle the Almighty has set for men. I want no man who must have others to fight for him; I want no man who will cry out weakly at every blow in the face; I want no man who will yield beneath the flail of Fate. I want the man of big courage, the man of fight. He must have the muscles of a giant, and the heart of a lion. That man I will set up on my little altar, and so long as I live I will go down on my knees and thank God for His goodness in giving him to me."
Frank had no words in which to answer. A great passion was sweeping through his veins and held him silent. Of a sudden his arms reached out and caught the girl's slim body in their powerful embrace, and, regardless that they were in full view of the house, he crushed her to his bosom, and kissed her passionately.
But Phyllis was more mindful of those things, and swiftly released herself with a little cry.
"Frank!" she protested. "Frank!"
But Frank remained smilingly unrepentant.
"I don't care," he cried. "I don't care if the whole – "
He broke off with a scared look in the midst of his smile. Phyllis was pointing across at the house. The glass entrance doors had just swung to, and a man-servant was rapidly coming toward them.
"It's – it's about – Monica!" Phyllis exclaimed, in a sudden panic.
The man addressed himself to Frank.
"Mr. Hendrie would like to see you at once, sir. He's in the library now – waiting."
Frank looked into the man's inscrutable face in anxious inquiry.
"Is there – has there been any word of – Mrs. Hendrie – yet?" he questioned sharply.
The man's sigh was in perfect order with his training.
"I think not – yet, sir."
Frank sighed, too. His relief was lest the news should have been bad. His eyes sought Phyllis's.
Then he turned again to the man.
"You said – at once?"
"Yes, sir. Mr. Hendrie was emphatic on the point."
Phyllis looked up into her lover's face.
"You best hurry, Frank."
"Yes."
Frank hurried away, leaving the man to return to the house at his leisure.
Daylight was rapidly dying. Already the remoter corners of the library were lost in growing shadows. Outside the rosy sunset had chilled to a pale yellow, above which a faint twinkle of stars was already visible.
Hendrie was sitting astride a chair. Its back was turned, and his folded arms were resting upon it. His great, square chin was thrust forward supported upon them.
His eyes were gloomy, and coldly brooding as they surveyed the other two occupants of the room. Austin Leyburn was seated with his back to the window, and his face was lost in the shadow. A few yards away from his charge sat Angus Moraine. His watchful eyes, full of a hatred he made no attempt to conceal, were steadily fixed upon the other's shadowed features.
A painful, straining silence reigned in the room. There was nothing more to be said between these three until the arrival of the man whom Hendrie had dispatched a servant in search of.
Presently the door opened. Hendrie half turned his head. Leyburn's eyes lifted in the direction. Only Angus remained indifferent to the arrival. He knew that his reign in charge of his prisoner was over, and the thought was as gall and wormwood to him.
Frank glanced in turn at the three figures. Then he approached his host.
"You wished to see me, Mr. Hendrie."
The millionaire raised his head and nodded.
"Yes, boy," he said, and Leyburn's eyes suddenly lit with a venom that seemed to fit with their narrow setting.
Now Hendrie seemed in no hurry to proceed. He turned about leisurely, and reached over to his cigar cabinet. He selected a cigar with some care, smelled it, and rolled it lightly between finger and thumb. Then he pushed the cabinet along the desk in Frank's direction.
"Smoke?" he said, and bit off the end of his own cigar.
Frank shook his head.
"I'd rather smoke my pipe," he said simply.
Hendrie's eyes became less cold. He nodded.
"Sit – anyway," he said, in his brief, almost brusque fashion.
Frank obeyed, and the other lit his cigar.
When it was burning satisfactorily, he turned thoughtful eyes on Frank, who was in the act of lighting his pipe.
"Say," he began, evidently thinking hard, "Hinkling's sent word he'll be along in a while. Couldn't just say how long. Seems to me there's got to be some talk in this room – before he comes. This feller here, Austin Leyburn, or Tug, as I've always known him, is full to the brim with stuff he's crazy to hand out to the – general public. It's mostly about me. You see, we knew each other well, some twenty years ago. He sort of thinks he knows a heap about me I'd hate to hand on to anybody else, specially you – and Mrs. Hendrie. I've been trying to convince him this while back I'm just yearning for you both to hear all he's got to tell, but I want to be around so I know he tells it right. You see, it's important he tells it right. Guess my being around don't seem to suit him, and he's kicking. Says he'll tell it when he wants, and in his own way. Not as I want, and at my time. He says he's going to raise trouble all around for us – when he gets away. I've told him he can do what in hell he likes – when he gets away. Meanwhile, you are going to hear all he wants you to hear right now. If he won't tell you in front of me as I want him to, then I'll tell it you in front of him as he don't want me to. If I hide anything or forget anything, or tell it wrong, it's up to him to correct me, same as I should correct him. Whether he likes it or not, that story's going to be told right here and now."
There was no mistaking Alexander Hendrie's manner. Frank knew that a crisis in the man's life had arrived, perhaps a crisis in the lives of all those present. He made no attempt to reply. He knew that the millionaire's words were the preliminary to a skirmish in which he had no part beyond that of an onlooker.
Hendrie turned to Leyburn.
"You get me?" he demanded. "You can choose to tell – or not. I don't care a curse which you do."
Leyburn suddenly cleared his throat. He sat forward in his chair and even in the failing light it was plain – the furious flashing of his eyes. Angus lost no detail of any purpose, other than to talk, in his prisoner. He sat absolutely alert.
"Yes," Leyburn suddenly cried out. "I'll tell the story to this – this cur of a boy of yours, damn you." Then he flung out an arm, pointing at the man astride his chair, smoking in his steady, unruffled fashion. "See that man," he cried, with added fury, addressing himself to Frank. "See that low-down thief? See him, a cur who can even rob the dead? That's your father!"
It was a terrible moment. It was a moment so painful that no added word could have intensified its drama.
Nor was any word forthcoming. Hendrie smoked on. His face was calm, his balance of restraint was quite undisturbed before the hideous accusation.
One swift glance of Frank's blue eyes shot in his father's direction, but, otherwise, he, too, continued to smoke his pipe without a sign. He knew it was not for him to speak – yet. Angus silently gritted his teeth. His astonishment could not be doubted. Leyburn alone seemed to be affected. He had lashed himself to a super-heat by his own words.
"Say," he cried, still addressing himself to Frank. "You young skunk, I can thank you for all this – this that's happened here. I find you, a jail-bird, coming straight from the penitentiary, and I take you, make a man of you, and this – this is the way you repay me. But I might have known it would be. If ever there was a son of a rotten father, you are he. The three of you've got me here. You reckon I'm in your power. Guess none of you'd stop at murder, if it suited you. I tell you unless you do it, and do it quick, there's a long road ahead of us all, and we'll travel it together, and I'll fight you every inch of the way."
Hendrie removed his cigar from between his lips.
"The boy's waiting for your yarn. The other'll keep for – later."
"Yes, you're right, Leo. Oh, you're right," Leyburn retorted passionately. "It'll keep till later. Meanwhile I'll get on with the story." He turned again to Frank. "You're this man's bastard. You understand – his bastard. Twenty years ago we were on the Yukon together – "
"Not together. We were both there," corrected Hendrie.
"Yes, we were both there. You were living with your paramour – the woman Audie – this fellow's mother. I was with my partner, Charlie. He was sick to death. We'd got a big wad of gold from the creek, and because Charlie was sick – "
"And you'd got enough gold to suit your purposes," put in Hendrie quietly.
"We decided to return to civilization." Leyburn went on, ignoring the interruption. "I hoped to get him cured."
"So you made him face the winter trail." Hendrie's addition was made quite without passion.
"We set out down country with our dogs, and all our goods, and gold, and got held up by a blizzard. We were camped in a bluff. Charlie could not stand the weather. He got so weak we couldn't travel. Then before we struck camp he died. I didn't know he was dead, and I had gone to gather firewood. Meanwhile, this man and your mother made up their minds to return to civilization. He had a big wad of gold. You were to be born before winter was out, and your mother was scared to have you born up there. So she made this man bring her down. She reckoned he was honest, and would marry her. She reckoned like that because she was a woman," he added, with burning contempt.
He waited for Hendrie's comment, which came promptly.
"She reckoned that way because she knew it was my purpose," he said coldly.
"But you didn't marry her, did you?" Leyburn cried tauntingly.
"I didn't marry her because she was dead when I finally found her whereabouts."
"But she did not die till after you deserted her," cried Leyburn, with venomous triumph.
"Best go straight on with the story. You want the boy to know it all – not in pieces." Hendrie went on smoking.
Leyburn turned to Frank again.
"And it's a pretty story," he assured him. "Listen. A week after we started down the trail these two followed us with a scout. They, too, got caught in the blizzard. They got caught in the open. They were high up in the hills. An accident happened. They lost their gold, dropped with a lot of their baggage over a precipice. This man got mad. He loved gold. He cared for nothing else. Your mother was nothing beside it. She was just a burden. Finally they made camp a few miles from us. After a while this man saw our smoke in the distance. He stole out on the excuse of fetching wood. He tramped to our camp. He came there when I was away for wood and Charlie had just died. Finding Charlie dead, and no one about, he stole our gold, our dogs and sled, our provisions and blankets, and hit the trail south, leaving your mother with the scout, and me to walk back to their camp or starve. That's the man who is your father. That's the man you've gone over to, and sacrificed your pledges to humanity for. Do you understand what you've done? Do you? You've helped this criminal, this skunk of a man who dishonored your mother, and left her and her unborn child on the long winter trail to die, this thief, this ghoul who could rob the dead, and renounced your most sacred pledges. By God, you are your father's son!"