Keith of the Border Part 11

Chapter XVI. Introducing Doctor Fairbain

Headed as they were, and having no other special objective point in view, it was only natural for the two fugitives to drift into Sheridan.

This was at that time the human cesspool of the plains country, a seething, boiling maelstrom of all that was rough, evil, and brazen along the entire frontier. Customarily quiet enough during the hours of daylight, the town became a mad saturnalia with the approach of darkness, its ceaseless orgies being noisily continued until dawn. But at this period all track work on the Kansas Pacific being temporarily suspended by Indian outbreaks, the graders made both night and day alike hideous, and the single dirty street which composed Sheridan, lined with shacks, crowded with saloons, the dull dead prairie stretching away on every side to the horizon, was congested with humanity during every hour of the twenty-four.

It was a grim picture of depravity and desolation, the environment dull, gloomy, forlorn; all that was worthy the eye or thought being the pulsing human element. All about extended the barren plains, except where on one side a ravine cut through an overhanging ridge. From the seething street one could look up to the summit, and see there the graves of the many who had died deaths of violence, and been borne thither in "their boots." Amid all this surrounding desolation was Sheridan--the child of a few brief months of existence, and destined to perish almost as quickly--the centre of the grim picture, a mere cl.u.s.ter of rude, unpainted houses, poorly erected shacks, grimy tents flapping in the never ceasing wind swirling across the treeless waste, the ugly red station, the rough cow-pens filled with lowing cattle, the huge, ungainly stores, their false fronts decorated by amateur wielders of the paint brush, and the garish dens of vice tucked in everywhere. The pendulum of life never ceased swinging. Society was mixed; no man cared who his neighbor was, or dared to question. Of women worthy the name there were few, yet there were flitting female forms in plenty, the saloon lights revealing powdered cheeks and painted eyebrows. It was a strange, restless populace, the majority here to-day, disappearing to-morrow--cowboys, half-breeds, trackmen, graders, desperadoes, gamblers, saloon-keepers, merchants, generally Jewish, petty officials, and a riff-raff no one could account for, mere floating debris. The town was an eddy catching odd bits of driftwood such as only the frontier ever knew. Queer characters were everywhere, wrecks of dissipation, derelicts of the East, seeking nothing save oblivion.

Everything was primitive--pa.s.sion and pleasure ruled. To spend easily made money noisily, brazenly, was the ideal. From dawn to dawn the search after joy continued. The bagnios and dance halls were ablaze; the bar-rooms crowded with hilarious or quarrelsome humanity, the gambling tables alive with excitement. Men swaggered along the streets looking for trouble, and generally finding it; cowboys rode into open saloon doors and drank in the saddle; troops of congenial spirits, frenzied with liquor, spurred recklessly through the street firing into the air, or the crowd, as their whim led; bands played popular airs on balconies, and innumerable "barkers" added their honeyed invitations to the perpetual din. From end to end it was a saturnalia of vice, a babel of sound, a glimpse of the inferno. Money flowed like water; every man was his own law, and the gun the arbiter of destiny. The town marshal, with a few cool-headed deputies, moved here and there amid the chaos, patient, tireless, undaunted, seeking merely to exercise some slight restraint. This was Sheridan.

Into the one long street just at dusk rode Keith and Neb, the third horse trailing behind. Already lights were beginning to gleam in the crowded saloons, and they were obliged to proceed slowly. Leaving the negro at the corral to find some purchaser for the animals, and such accommodations for himself as he could achieve, Keith shouldered his way on foot through the heterogeneous ma.s.s toward the only hotel, a long two-storied wooden structure, unpainted, fronting the glitter of the Pioneer Dance Hall opposite. A noisy band was splitting the air with discordant notes, a loud-voiced "barker" yelling through the uproar, but Keith, accustomed to similar scenes and sounds elsewhere, strode through the open door of the hotel, and guided by the noisy, continuous clatter of dishes, easily found his way to the dining-room. It was crowded with men, a few women scattered here and there, most of the former in s.h.i.+rt-sleeves, all eating silently. A few smaller tables at the back of the room were distinguished from the others by white coverings in place of oil-cloth, evidently reserved for the more distinguished guests.

Disdaining ceremony, the newcomer wormed his way through, finally discovering a vacant seat where his back would be to the wall, thus enabling him to survey the entire apartment.

It was not of great interest, save for its constant change and the primitive manner in which the majority attacked their food supply, which was piled helter-skelter upon the long tables, yet he ran his eyes searchingly over the numerous faces, seeking impartially for either friend or enemy. No countenance present, as revealed in the dim light of the few swinging lamps, appeared familiar, and satisfied that he remained unknown, Keith began devoting his attention to the dishes before him, mentally expressing his opinion as to their attractiveness.

Chancing finally to again lift his eyes, he met the gaze of a man sitting directly opposite, a man who somehow did not seem exactly in harmony with his surroundings. He was short and stockily built, with round rosy face, and a perfect shock of wiry hair brushed back from a broad forehead; his nose wide but stubby, and chin ma.s.sive. Apparently he was between forty and fifty years of age, exceedingly well dressed, his gray eyes shrewd and full of a grim humor. Keith observed all this in a glance, becoming aware at the same time that his neighbor was apparently studying him also. The latter broke silence with a quick, jerky utterance, which seemed to peculiarly fit his personal appearance.

"d.a.m.n it all--know you, sir--sure I do--but for life of me can't tell where."

Keith stared across at him more searchingly, and replied, rather indifferently:

"Probably a mistake then, as I have no recollection of your face."

"Never make a mistake, sir--never forget a face," the other snapped with some show of indignation, his hands now clasped on the table, one stubby forefinger pointed, as he leaned forward. "Don't tell me--I've seen you somewhere--no, not a word--don't even tell me your name--I'm going to think of it."

Keith smiled, not unwilling to humor the man's eccentricity, and returned to his meal, with only an occasional inquiring glance across the table. The other sat and stared at him, his heavy eyebrows wrinkled, as he struggled to awaken memory. The younger man had begun on his pie when the face opposite suddenly cleared.

"d.a.m.n me, I've got it--h.e.l.l, yes; hospital tent--Shenandoah--bullet imbedded under third rib--ordinary case--that's why I forgot--clear as mud now--get the name in a minute--Captain--Captain Keith--that's it--shake hands."

Puzzled at the unexpected recognition, yet realizing the friendliness of the man, Keith grasped the pudgy fingers extended with some cordiality.

"Don't remember me I s'pose--don't think you ever saw me--delirious when I came--hate to tell you what you was talking about--gave you hypodermic first thing--behaved well enough though when I dug out the lead--Minie bullet, badly blunted hitting the rib--thought you might die with blood poison--couldn't stay to see--too d.a.m.n much to do--evidently didn't though--remember me now?"

"No, only from what you say. You must have been at General Waite's headquarters."

"That's it--charge of Stonewall's field hospital--just happened to ride into Waite's camp that night--d.a.m.n lucky for you I did--young snip there wanted to saw the bone--I stopped that--liked your face--imagined you might be worth saving--ain't so sure of it now, or you wouldn't be out in this G.o.d forsaken country, eating such grub--my name's Fairbain--Joseph Wright Fairbain, M.D.--contract surgeon for the railroad--working on the line?"

Keith shook his head, feeling awakening interest in his peculiar companion.

"No; just drifted in here from down on the Arkansas," he explained, briefly. "Did you know General Waite was dead?"

The doctor's ruddy face whitened.

"Dead?--Willis Waite dead?" he repeated. "What do you mean, sir? Are you sure? When?"

"I ought to be sure; I buried him just this side the Cimmaron Crossing out on the Santa Fe trail."

"But do you know it was General Waite?" the man's insistent tone full of doubt.

"I have no question about it," returned Keith, conclusively. "The man was Waite's size and general appearance, with gray beard, similar to the one I remember he wore during the war. He had been scalped, and his face beaten beyond recognition, but papers in his pockets were sufficient to prove his ident.i.ty. Besides, he and his companion--a young fellow named Sibley--were known to have pulled out two days before from Carson City."

"When was this?"

"Ten days ago."

Fairbain's lips smiled, the ruddy coloring sweeping back into his cheeks.

"d.a.m.n me, Keith, you came near giving me a shock," he said, jerkily.

"Shouldn't be so careless--not sure my heart's just right--tendency to apoplexy, too--got to be guarded against. Now, let me tell you something--maybe you buried some poor devil out at Cimmaron Crossing--but it wasn't Willis Waite. How do I know? Because I saw him, and talked with him yesterday--d.a.m.n me, if I didn't, right here in this town."

Chapter XVII. In the Next Room

Keith, his eyes filled with undisguised doubt, studied the face of the man opposite, almost convinced that he was, in some way, connected with the puzzling mystery. But the honesty of the rugged face only added to his perplexity.

"Are you certain you are not mistaken?"

"Of course I am, Keith. I've known Waite for fifteen years a bit intimately--have met him frequently since the war--and I certainly talked with him. He told me enough to partially confirm your story. He said he had started for Santa Fe light, because he couldn't get enough men to run a caravan--afraid of Indians, you know. So, he determined to take money--buy Mexican goods--and risk it himself. Old fighting c.o.c.k wouldn't turn back for all the Indians on the plains once he got an idea in his head--he was that kind--Lord, you ought to seen the fight he put up at Spottsylvania! He got to Carson City with two wagons, a driver and a cook--had eight thousand dollars with him, too, the d.a.m.n fool. Cook got into row, gambling, cut a man, and was jugged. Old Waite wouldn't leave even a n.i.g.g.e.r in that sort of fix--natural fighter--likes any kind of row. So, he hung on there at Carson, but had sense enough--Lord knows where he got it--to put all but a few hundred dollars in Ben Levy's safe. Then, he went out one night to play poker with his driver and a friend--had a drink or two--doped, probably, and never woke up for forty-eight hours--lost clothes, money, papers, and whole outfit--was just naturally cleaned out--couldn't get a trace worth following after.

You ought to have heard him cuss when he told me--it seemed to be the papers that bothered him most--them, and the mules."

"You say there was no trace?"

"Nothing to travel on after forty-eight hours--a posse started out next morning, soon as they found him--when they got back they reported having run the fellows as far as Cimmaron Crossing--there they got across into the sand hills, and escaped."

"Who led the posse?"

"A man called Black, I think," he said.

"Black Bart?"

"Yes, that's the name; so, I reckon you didn't bury Willis Waite this time, Captain. You wouldn't have thought he was a dead one if you had heard him swear while he was telling the story--it did him proud; never heard him do better since the second day at Gettysburg--had his ear shot off then, and I had to fix him up--Lord, but he called me a few things."

Keith sat silent, fully convinced now that the doctor was telling the truth, yet more puzzled than ever over the peculiar situation in which he found himself involved.

"What brought the General up here?" he questioned, finally.

"I haven't much idea," was the reply. "I don't think I asked him directly. I wasn't much interested. There was a hint dropped, however, now you speak about it. He's keen after those papers, and doesn't feel satisfied regarding the report of the posse. It's my opinion he's trailing after Black Bart."

The dining-room was thinning out, and they were about the only ones left at the tables. Keith stretched himself, looking around.

"Well, Doctor, I am very glad to have met you again, and to learn Waite is actually alive. This is a rather queer affair, but will have to work itself out. Anyway, I am too dead tired to-night to hunt after clues in midst of this babel. I've been in the saddle most of the time for a week, and have got to find a bed."

"I reckon you won't discover such a thing here," dryly. "Got seven in a room upstairs, and others corded along the hall. Better share my cell--only thing to do."

"That would be asking too much--I can turn in at the corral with Neb; I've slept in worse places."