Part 34 (1/2)
CHAPTER XXIV
A SECRET TRIBUNAL
Some little time had elapsed since my acquittal, when, one pleasant summer morning, I rode out from the railroad settlement bound for Bonaventure. The air was soft and balmy, the suns.h.i.+ne brilliant, and the prairie sod, which, by that time, had in most years grown parched and dry, formed a springy green carpet beneath the horse's feet. There had but once before been such a season within my memory, and my spirits were almost as buoyant as the wallet in my pocket was heavy. The lean years had pa.s.sed and left us, perhaps a little more grave in face and quiet in speech, to look forward to a brightening future, while the receipts I had brought back from the nearest town meant freedom at least.
I was also unwearied in body, for the roll of paper money in the wallet had made a vast difference to me, and instead of riding all night after a long railroad journey, I had slept and breakfasted well at the wooden hotel. Indeed, I almost wondered whether I were the same man who had previously ridden that way in a state of sullen desperation, spurred on by hatred and dogged obstinacy instead of hope. Now I was, however, rather thankful than jubilant, for my satisfaction was tempered by a perhaps unusual humility. Steel, Thorn, and I had, in our own blundering fas.h.i.+on, made the best fight we could, but it was the generosity of others and the winds of heaven which had brought us the victory.
Distance counts for little in these days, when the steel track and the modern cargo steamer together girdle the face of the globe; and the loss of others had been our gain. There had been scarcity in Argentina, and Australian gra.s.s was shriveling for want of rain. Famine had smitten India, and the great cattle-barons beyond our frontier had been overbusily engaged, attempting the extermination of the smaller settlers, to attend their legitimate business; so buyers in Europe were looking to Canada for wheat and cattle. Our own beasts had flourished, and before the usual season we had driven every salable head in to the railroad, riding in force behind them. That drive and the events which followed it were worth remembering.
I sold the cattle in Winnipeg for excellent prices, and deducting my own share of the proceeds, took the first train westward to visit Lane, and paid him down three-fourths of the balance of the loan. Having bought wisdom dearly, I took a lawyer with me. Lane showed neither surprise nor chagrin, though he must have felt both, and I could almost admire the way he bore defeat. He was less a man than a money-making machine, and the more to be dreaded for his absence of pa.s.sion. Rage was apparently as unknown to him as pity, and, though he knew he had lost Crane Valley, and with it the completion of a well-laid scheme, he actually pushed a cigar-box towards me as he signed the receipt. I drew a deep breath of relief as I pa.s.sed the papers to the lawyer, for the harvest would more than cover what remained of the debt, and then I laid down certain sums on behalf of others. Lane smiled almost affably as he tossed the quittances upon the table.
”They're all in order, Rancher. A capable man don't need to use second-rate trickery, and I'm open to allow that the bull-frog was hard to squash,” he said.
I pocketed the doc.u.ments and went out in silence. Speech would have been useless, because the man had no sensibilities that could be wounded; but the interview struck me as a grotesquely commonplace termination of a struggle which had cost me months of misery. Indeed, I found it hard to convince myself that what had happened was real, and the heavy burden flung off at last. Being by no means a mere pa.s.sionless money-making machine, I had, nevertheless, not finished with Lane.
It was evening the next day when I reached Bonaventure, and was shown into the presence of its owner, who had lately returned there from the East. He looked haggard, and did not rise out of the chair he lounged in, though his voice was cordial. ”You have been successful, Ormesby. I can see it by your face,” he said.
”I have, sir,” I answered. ”More so than I dared to hope, and I fancy you will be astonished when you count these bills. The Bonaventure draft played a leading part in my release, and now I find it difficult to realize that the luck has changed at last.”
It was not quite dark outside, but the curtains were drawn, and Haldane sat beside a table littered with papers under a silver reading-lamp. His face looked curiously ascetic and thin, but the smile in his keen eyes was genial. Boone sat opposite him smoking, and nodded good-humoredly to me.
”You will soon get used to prosperity, and there is no occasion for grat.i.tude,” Haldane said, tossing the roll of paper money across the table, but taking up the account I laid beside it. ”I notice that you have earned me a profit of twenty per cent. You have tolerable business talents in your own direction, Ormesby, and I shall expect your good counsel in the practical management of Bonaventure which I have undertaken.”
”The management of Bonaventure?” I said, and Haldane's forehead grew wrinkled as he nodded.
”Exactly. The verdict has been given. No more exciting corners or supposit.i.tious heaping up of unearned increments for me. I am sentenced by the specialists to a dormant life and open-air exercise, and have accordingly chosen the rearing of cattle on the salubrious prairie.”
I guessed what that sentence meant to a man of his energies; but he had accepted it gracefully, and I was almost startled when he said: ”Do you know that I envied you, Ormesby, even when things looked worst for you?”
I could only murmur a few not overappropriate words of sympathy, though I fancied that had Haldane been under the same grip he might have envied me less.
”It takes time to grow used to idleness, which is why I sent for you to-night,” he said, with a swift resumption of his usual tone. ”I purpose to teach Lane that he is not altogether so omnipotent as he believes himself--partly by way of amus.e.m.e.nt and to forward certain views of my own, and partly because my younger daughter insists that he is a menace to every honest man on the prairie. Boone appears inclined to agree with her.”
”I might even go a little further, sir,” said Boone.
Haldane ignored the comment, and pointed to the papers, of which there appeared to be a bushel. ”I have been posting myself in my new profession, and conclude that the prospects for grain and live stock are encouraging,” he said. ”News from Chile, California, and the Austral, all confirm this view; and, remembering it, we will consider Lane's position. Boone has taken considerable pains to discover that, as I expected, his resources are far from inexhaustible, and circ.u.mstances point to the fact that he has set his teeth in too big a morsel. At present neither the speculative public nor would-be emigrants have grasped the position, and therefore Lane would get little if he realized on his stolen lands just now.”
”That is plain; but what results from it?” I said.
”Prosperity to poor men, according to my daughter;” and Haldane's smile was not wholly cynical. ”We purpose that he should realize as soon as possible. Boone discovered that he is raising money to carry on by quietly selling out his stock in the Investment Company which has consistently backed him, and I feel inclined for a speculation in that direction, especially as the public will shortly be invited to increase the company's capital. Lastly, I am in possession of accurate information, while Lane is not. Contrary to general opinion, the railroad will be hurried through very shortly.”
It was great news, and the possible downfall of my enemy perhaps the least of it. It implied swift prosperity for all that district, and while I stared at the speaker the blood surged to my forehead. Though fate had robbed me of the best, part of what I had toiled, and fought, and suffered for was to come about at last; and the calmness of the others appeared unnatural. Haldane's eyes were keen, but he showed no sign of unusual interest; Boone's face was merely grim, and I guessed that the man whose heel had been on my neck would fare ill between them.
”If he had used legitimate weapons one could almost be sorry for him,” I said. ”It will try even his nerve to lose all he has plotted for when the prize is actually, if he knew it, within his grasp.”
”He deserves no mercy,” Boone broke in. ”This is justice, Ormesby, neither more nor less; and unless we cripple him once for all he will take hold again with the first bad season. What you will shortly hear should demonstrate the necessity for decisive measures; but our host forgot to mention that he declines to profit individually by this opportunity.”
”If anyone wishes to learn my virtues he can apply to certain company promoters in Montreal,” said Haldane languidly. ”Boone will remember that I came here to farm for my health, and have been coerced into a.s.sisting at this Vehmgericht. Those wheels, however, give warning that the first sitting will commence.”
A minute or two later I started wrathfully to my feet as Niven was ushered into the room. He on his part seemed equally astonished, and, I think, would have backed out again, but that Boone adroitly slammed the door behind him. It may be mentioned that he had been tried in my place, and, to the disgust of Sergeant Mackay, just escaped conviction.