The Cattle-Baron's Daughter Part 54

"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 compa.s.sionate 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 cl.u.s.tering 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 gra.s.s. 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 fas.h.i.+on. 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 hoa.r.s.ely. "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 hors.e.m.e.n 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, hoa.r.s.e and strained with relief.

"We are through. They are United States cavalry!"

The hors.e.m.e.n 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 a.s.sumption 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.