In the Shadow of the Hills Part 28

And he stepped from the machine.

Without demur the girl placed her hand in the one he offered and descended stiffly. Mary ran back into the house to attend to the coffee-pot and the visitors presently were seated at the kitchen table at places already laid, with cups of steaming strong coffee and plates of food before them.

Janet contented herself with the hot, reviving drink, but Weir ate heartily as well. Coming and going, forty miles of driving a rough mountain road had given him a laborer's appet.i.te.

"It's late, one o'clock," Mary said to Janet. "Why don't you stay with us the rest of the night? I wish you would."

Janet put up an arm and drew down the face of the girl at her side and kissed her.

"You're a good friend, Mary, to be so thoughtful," she answered. "But father will be terribly anxious every minute I'm away. I must reach home as quickly as possible to ease his mind."

Of Sorenson nothing had been spoken, though a repressed curiosity on the part of the ranchman and his daughter had been evident from the instant of Weir's and Janet's return.

At this point Johnson jerked his head in the direction of the creek.

"What did you do to him, Weir?" he growled.

"Not as much as I intended at first. But he made up for it himself.

Ran his car against that granite ledge before the cabin while trying to get away, and smashed himself up badly. I carried him into the hut and left him there; he was alive when we drove off, but he may be dead by now. Bad eggs like him are hard to kill, however. I'll start a doctor up there when I arrive in San Mateo; probably one from Bowenville."

"Father won't attend him now, so long as there's another physician who can, I know," Janet stated.

"I should say not!" Johnson a.s.severated. "If that young hound Sorenson had his deserts, we'd just leave him there and forget all about him."

"That's where our civilized notions handicap us," Steele Weir said, with a slight smile. "But at that, if he were the only person concerned, I'd do no more than inform a doctor where he was and what had happened to him, and wash my hands of the affair. There are other things, though, to consider. Janet's position, primarily. Her case is similar to that of Mary's awhile ago, and we must prevent talk."

"Yes, of course."

"The worst of the doings of a scoundrel like him that involve innocent people is the talk. There are always some people low enough to ascribe evil to the girl as well as the man in such a circ.u.mstance as this. I propose to see that Janet doesn't suffer that. We avoided it in Mary's case and we'll do so in this, though the situation is more difficult.

I've been thinking the matter over on the way down and have a plan that will work out, I believe, but it requires your help, Johnson."

"I reckon you know you'll not have to ask me twice for anything," the rancher remarked.

"And we may have to shuffle the facts a bit."

"All right. I'll do all the lying necessary and never bat an eye."

"It won't require much decorating, the story. But you will have to go up and get him, starting at once." Then he concluded, "I hate to have to ask you to make that drive late at night and in the darkness."

"Never mind that. Glad to do it, if that's what you want."

"Take your wagon and fill the box with hay and bring him down. By coming back slowly he won't be jarred, and he has to be brought out anyway. If he's dead, well, bring his body just the same. A doctor should be easily at your house by the time you arrive; and your story is that a sheepherder found him lying by his wrecked car, carried him into the cabin and then came down and told you of the accident, on which you went and brought him in, not knowing, of course, in the dark who he was or what he was doing up there or how the smash-up had occurred. You might suggest that he was camping there by himself to fish, and stop at that."

Johnson nodded.

"I'll say just enough and no more," he remarked.

"If you start at once, you'll be there by daylight if not before. That will get you back here by nine or ten o'clock. I don't want him taken to San Mateo; that would stir up a swarm of inquiries and might even send some of the curious up to the spot. Let the trail get cold, so to speak. People aren't half as curious about a thing three or four days after it happens as at the moment."

"I've noticed that myself."

"And another thing, I don't wish his father to learn of the matter just yet. Under other circ.u.mstances he should be the first to know, but I want the news kept from him for a special reason. Besides, it would be better if he found out about it from others and through roundabout channels. His son up there I don't see doing any talking himself for some time if he does live. When he is able to talk, I believe he'll decide to keep his mouth shut or just accept the explanation given that he was fis.h.i.+ng or something of that kind. When the doctor has looked him over, either he or you will carry him to Bowenville. If we could s.h.i.+p him at once to Gaston, where there's some sort of a hospital, I suppose, or even to Santa Fe, that would be the thing. He'd be out of the way; there'd be no talk; there would be no explanations to make except to the doctor."

"Every doctor round these parts probably knows him," Johnson said, "and so would insist on taking him home."

"There's a new one at Bowenville, father says," Janet put in. "A young man, just starting practice. He hasn't been there but a few weeks and may not know Ed."

"He's the man for us!" Weir declared. "We'll send for him. Now we must be going."

Steele arose from the table and stretched his shoulders.

"And I'll hitch up my team immediately," the rancher said.

"I'll go with you," Mary exclaimed.

"Tut, tut, girl."

"I can help you, and I want to do something to help Mr. Weir and Janet Hosmer, even if it's only a little bit. I'm strong, I don't care if it is late--anyway, I'd just have nightmares if I stayed here alone,--and I can help you with him. I'm going," she ended, obstinately.

Johnson eyed her for a moment, then yielded.

"Nothing to be afraid of now," he rejoined, "but if you would rather go along with your dad, all right."

Five minutes later Steele and Janet were emerging from the canyon upon the mesa. The drizzling rain still continued and the unseen mist beat cool upon their cheeks as the car swung away from Terry Creek for town. Except for the stream of light projected before them, they were engulfed in Stygian darkness; and save for the slithering sound of the tires on the wet road, they moved in profound night silence.

"That business is arranged," Steele said, after a time. "But we still have the results of the attack on Martinez to deal with. I don't know how long he'll hold out against the men who dragged him off, probably not long. I suppose Burkhardt and perhaps Vorse took him, and they'll stop at nothing to get the paper they're after. How they learned of it, I don't know, but find out about it they did; and they'll force the information they want from Martinez if they have to resort to hot irons. That's the kind of men they are. The lawyer will stick up to a certain point--then he'll tell. That brings you into their way."

"You also," Janet answered.

"I've been there for some time," was his grim response. "But in your case it's different. I'm worried, I tell you frankly."

"Do you think they would dare try to intimidate me in my own home and with father to protect me?" she cried, incredulously.

"Not there, perhaps. But if they could inveigle you away, yes. They wouldn't use hot irons in your case, of course, and I can't guess just what they would do, but they would do--something. Those men think I have the 'goods' on them; I repeat, they would stop at nothing to save themselves if worst came to worst; their fear will make them fiends.

One couldn't suppose they would dare seize Martinez in all defiance of law--but they did. One can't believe they would dream of torturing him for information--but I haven't a doubt that's what they've done. So you see why I'm worried about you. If anything happened, if any harm came to you now, Janet--"

His voice was unsteady as he spoke her name and ceased abruptly. She thrilled to this betrayal of his feeling.

"I wish I could just stick at your side, then I know I should be safe," she said.

And for answer she felt his hand grope and press her own for an instant.

"You can count on me being somewhere around."

"I know that," she said, confidently.

San Mateo was asleep, buried in gloom when they entered it, and quiet except for the barking of a dog or two that their pa.s.sage stirred to activity. But in Dr. Hosmer's cottage a light was burning and as the car came to a stop at its gate the door was flung open and the doctor himself appeared framed in the doorway. He ran hastily down the walk to meet them.

"Janet!" he cried. And the girl flung her arms about him.