Part 3 (1/2)

”No!” was the answer. ”My liberty is precious because I have work to do.

Move or call out at your peril, Charlie!”

The climax was evidently approaching, and still I could do nothing for fear of jeopardizing Lucille Haldane's safety if I precipitated it. The young lad, unarmed as he was, stiffened himself as for a spring, and I wondered whether I could reach his opponent's pistol arm with the chair-leg in time when the trooper moved or shouted. Then, because feminine wits are often quicker than our own, I saw the girl's eyes were fixed on me, as, unnoticed by the others, she pointed towards the candle. Another second pa.s.sed before I understood her; then, for the light stood on the corner of the table nearest me, I swept one arm out, and there was sudden darkness as I hurled it sideways across the room.

The door into the main pa.s.sage swung to, and Cotton fell over something as he groped his way towards it, while, though strung up in a state of tension, I smiled, hearing--what he did not--somebody brush through the other door, which it was evident had escaped his notice.

Next, feeling that the girl was mistress of the position, I stirred the sinking fire until a faint brightness shone out from the hearth. It just sufficed to reveal Lucille Haldane standing with her back to the door the fugitive had not pa.s.sed through. This quick-witted maneuver sufficed to deceive the bewildered representative of the law. ”You cannot pa.s.s, Trooper Cotton,” she said.

The lad positively groaned. ”Do you know that you are disgracing me forever, Miss Haldane?” he said, in a hoa.r.s.e appeal. ”You must let me pa.s.s!”

The girl resolutely shook her head, and the dying light showed me her slender fingers tightly clenched on the handle of the door. ”I will see that you do not suffer; but I am mistress of this house, and I think you are an English gentleman, Trooper Cotton,” she said.

Then, with an air of desperation, the lad turned to me. ”Won't you try to persuade her, Ormesby?”

”No,” I said dryly. ”I am Miss Haldane's guest, and not a police officer. I am sorry for you, Cotton, but you have done your best, and even if you forget your own traditions I'll certainly see you show her due respect. It is not your fault that I have twice your strength, but it will be if, while Miss Haldane remains here, you summon your comrades by a shout.”

”Confound you! You never thought----” he broke out; but, ceasing abruptly, he left the sentence incomplete; and, feeling that there were two sides to the question, I stood aside while he commenced a circuit of the room, which he might have done earlier. Still, Lucille Haldane did not move, for each moment gained might be valuable, until, with an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, he discovered and sprang through the other door. Then, hurrying to her side, I laid my hand rea.s.suringly on the girl's arm and found she was trembling like a leaf as I drew the door open.

”You must not lose a moment, and I think you should tell your father; but you can trust me to manage Cotton and keep what has pa.s.sed a secret,” I said.

There was a faint ”Thank you”; while hardly had she flitted down the pa.s.sage than a shout rang out, and hurrying as for my life, I found Cotton pounding on the inner door of the ante-room. Noticing that the window was shut, I seized his shoulder and gripped it hard. ”Pull yourself together, and remember, that whatever tale you tell, Miss Haldane does not figure in it,” I said. ”A horse would be no use to him; but I'll make sure by a run to the stable while you acquaint the sergeant.”

It was still snowing, and the drifts were deep, but I managed to plunge my feet into the hollows left by somebody who had preceded me, and there was a bottle of brandy in my pocket. I returned, floundering as heavily as possible along my outward tracks--for one learns a good deal when trailing wandering steers or stalking antelope--and met Cotton, who now carried his carbine. It was evident that he was bent on discharging his duty thoroughly, for when I announced that no horses were missing, he answered shortly: ”Thanks; but I'm going myself to see. Mackay and Mr.

Haldane are waiting for you.”

I smiled to myself. Trooper Cotton had acquired small proficiency in the art of tracking, and I knew that my footprints would not only deceive him, but that, following them, he would obliterate evidence that might have been conclusive to the sergeant's practiced eyes. All the male inmates of Bonaventure had gathered, half-dressed, in the hall, and Sergeant Mackay, who was asking questions, turned to me. ”Ye were here when he came in, Rancher Ormesby?”

”I was,” I answered. ”I didn't hear him until he was in the room; but he seemed starving, and presumably ran the risk in the hope of obtaining food.”

”Why did ye not seize him or raise the alarm?” asked the sergeant; and I shrugged my shoulders.

”I was wholly unarmed, and he is a desperate man with a pistol. You may remember mentioning that his capture was not my business.”

”I mind that I have seen ye take as heavy risks when, for a five-dollar wager, ye drove a loaded sledge over the rotten ice,” said the sergeant, with a searching glance at me. ”While ye did nothing Trooper Cotton came in to help ye?”

”Just so! He had no weapon either, but appeared quite willing to face the outlaw's pistol, when the candle went out, and the man must have slipped out by the second door in the dark. I made for the stables at once, but all the horses were safe. My own, I discovered earlier, had come back by itself.”

”Ye showed little sense,” said Mackay; while Haldane glanced curiously at me. ”What would he do with a horse in two foot of snow? There are points I'm no' clear about; but there'll be time for questions later.

Ah! Found ye anything, Trooper Cotton?”

”No,” said the lad. ”Nothing but the footprints made by Ormesby; and I can only presume that, there being no lee on that side, the wind would fill the horse-thief's track with snow. He would never risk trying the outbuildings when he knew that we were here.”

”No,” was the sergeant's answer. ”He'll be for the ravine. We'll take our leave, Mr. Haldane, with thanks for your hospitality, leaving the horses in the meantime. It is a regret to me we have brought this disturbance upon ye.”

Two minutes later the police had vanished into the snow, and in another ten Bonaventure was almost silent again. I went back to my couch and slept soundly, being too wearied to wonder whether I had done well or ill. Next morning Haldane called me into a room of his own.

”My daughter has told me what took place last night, and while, in one sense, I'm indebted to you, Ormesby, I really can't decide whether you showed a lamentable lack of judgment in abetting her,” he said. ”She is a brave little soul, but does not always spare time to think. Frankly, I wish this thing had not come about as it did.”