Part 48 (1/2)
He picked up the knife. Grant rose, and they set off, leading the horse, which moved slowly and painfully. It had grown dark and the trail was rough, but the farmer plodded homeward, stopping a few moments now and then. The path, however, grew smoother when they had left the sandy ridges behind, and by and by the lights of the homestead commenced to twinkle on the vast shadowy plain. Soon after they reached it, George rode away, mounted on a fresh horse, in search of Constable Flett.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE CLIMAX
George was tired and sleepy when he reached the settlement early in the morning, and found Flett at Hardie's house. It transpired from their conversation that there had been a disturbance at the Sachem on the return of a party which had driven out to the sale, and one man, who accused a companion of depriving him of a bargain, had attacked and badly injured him with a decanter. Flett, being sent for, had arrested the fellow, and afterward called upon the clergyman for information about his antecedents and character. He listened with close attention while George told his tale; and then examined the knife he produced.
”This is about the limit!” he exclaimed. ”You wouldn't have persuaded me that the thing was possible when I was first sent into the district.
It isn't what one expects in the wheat-belt, and it certainly has to be stopped.”
”Of course,” said George, with some impatience. ”But wouldn't it be wiser to consider the ways and means? At present the fellows are no doubt pus.h.i.+ng on for the frontier with two valuable teams and a wad of stolen bills.”
Flett smiled at him indulgently.
”This isn't a job that can be put through in a hurry. If they're heading for the boundary--and I guess they are--they'll be in Dakota or Montana long before any of the boys I'll wire to could come up with them. Our authority doesn't hold on American soil.”
”Is that to be the end of it?”
”Why, no,” Flett answered dryly. ”As I guess you have heard, they have had trouble of this kind in Alberta for a while; and most every time the boys were able to send back any American mavericks and beef-cattle that were run into Canada. As the result of it, our chiefs at Regina are pretty good friends with the sheriffs and deputies on the other side. They're generally willing to help us where they can.”
”Then you shouldn't have much difficulty in trailing your men. Suppose a fellow turned up with four exceptionally good horses and offered them to an American farmer or dealer, wouldn't it arouse suspicion?”
”It might,” said Flett, with a meaning smile. ”But the thing's not so simple as it looks. We all know that Canadian steers and horses have been run off and disposed of across the frontier; and now and then a few from that side have disappeared in Canada. This points to there being a way of getting rid of them; some mean white on a lonely holding will take them at half-value, and pa.s.s them along. What we have to do is to send a man over quietly to investigate, and get the sheriffs and deputies to keep their eyes open. I'm going to beg the Regina people to let me be that man.”
”You may as well understand that it isn't the return of the horses Grant wants so much as the conviction of the men who waylaid him.”
”Then,” said Flett, pointedly, ”he must be mighty mad.”
Hardie joined in George's laugh; but the constable went on:
”I believe we're going to get them; but it will take time--all summer, perhaps. I've known our boys lay hands on a man they wanted, eighteen months afterward.”
”In one way, I don't think that's much to their credit,” the clergyman remarked.
Taking up the knife George had handed him, Flett pointed to some initials scratched on the bone haft.
”Kind of foolish thing for the fellow to put his name on his tools; but I don't know anybody those letters might stand for. Now you describe him as clearly as you can, while I put it down.”
George did as he was bidden, and added: ”There were two more--one of them looked like Langside--and I believe a fourth man, though I may be mistaken in this. They were moving about pretty rapidly and the light was bad.”
Flett got up.
”I'll have word sent along to Regina, and then try to locate their trail until instructions come. I want to get about it right away, but there's this blamed fellow who knocked out his partner at the Sachem, and it will take me most of a day's ride before I can hand him on to Davies. It's a charge that n.o.body's going to worry about, and it's a pity he couldn't have escaped. Still, that's the kind of thing that can't happen too often.”
He went out and George turned to Hardie.
”How does the matter strike you?”
”I've an idea that Flett was right in saying it was the limit. There was a certain romance about these disturbances when they began; they were a novelty in this part of Canada. People took them lightly, glad of something amusing or exciting to talk about. It was through popular indifference that the gang first gained a footing, but by degrees it became evident that they couldn't be dislodged without a vigorous effort. People shrank from making it; and, with Beamish backing them, the fellows got steadily bolder and better organized. All the time, however, they were really at the mercy of the general body of orderly citizens. Now they have gone too far; this last affair can't be tolerated. Instead of apathy, there'll be an outbreak of indignation; and I expect the people who might have stopped the thing at the beginning will denounce the police.”