Part 12 (2/2)

Well, I couldn't find it in my heart to blame Lessard for that last, so long as he acted the gentleman about it. In fact, it was to be expected of almost any man who happened to be thrown in contact with Lyn Rowan for any length of time. I can't honestly lay claim to being absolutely immune myself; only my attack had come years earlier, and had not been virulent enough to make me indulge in any false hopes. It's no crime for an unattached man to care for a woman; but naturally, MacRae would be prejudiced against any one who laid siege to a castle he had marked for his own. I had disliked that big, autocratic major, too, from our first meeting, but it was pure instinctive antipathy on my part, sharpened, perhaps, by his outrageous treatment of MacRae.

We dropped the subject forthwith. Lessard's relation to the problem was a subject we had so far s.h.i.+ed around. It was beside the point to indulge in footless theory. We knew beyond a doubt who were the active agents in every blow that had been struck, and the first move in the tangle we sought to unravel was to lay hands on them, violently if necessary, and through them recover the stolen money. Only by having that in our possession--so MacRae argued--could we hope to gain credible hearing, and when that was accomplished whatever part Lessard had played would develop of itself.

By and by, my brain wearied with fruitless speculation, I began to doze, and from then till daylight I slept in five-minute s.n.a.t.c.hes.

Dawn brought an access of caution, and we forbore building a fire. Our horses, which we had picketed in the open overnight, we saddled and tied out of sight in the brush. Then we ate a cold breakfast and betook ourselves to the nearest hill-top, where, screened by a huddle of rocks, we could watch for the coming of Piegan Smith; and, incidentally, keep an eye on the redcoat camp, though the distance was too great to observe their movements with any degree of certainty. The most important thing was to avoid letting a bunch of them ride up on us unheralded.

”They're not setting the earth afire looking for anybody,” Mac declared, when the sun was well started on its ante-meridian journey and there was still no sign of riders leaving the cl.u.s.ter of tents. ”Ah, there they go.”

A squad of mounted men in close formation, so that their scarlet jackets stood out against the dun prairie like a flame in the dark, rode away from the camp, halted on the first hill an instant, then scattered north, south, and west. After that there was no visible stir around the white-sheeted commissary.

”They're not apt to disturb us if they keep going the opposite direction,” Mac reflected, his eyes conning them through the gla.s.ses.

”And neither do they appear to be going to move camp. Therefore, we'll be likely to see Piegan before long.”

But it was some time ere we laid eyes on that gentleman. We didn't see him leaving the camp--which occasioned us no uneasiness, because a lone rider could very well get away from there unseen by us, especially if he was circ.u.mspect in his choice of routes, as Piegan would probably be.

Only when two hours had dragged by, and then two more, did we begin to get anxious. I was lying on my back, staring up at the sky, all sorts of possible misfortune looming large on my mental horizon, when MacRae, sweeping the hills with the gla.s.ses, grunted satisfaction, and I turned my head in time to see Piegan appear momentarily on high ground a mile to the south of us.

”What's he doing off there?” I wondered. ”Do you suppose somebody's following him, that he thinks it necessary to ride clear around us?”

”Hardly; but you can gamble that he isn't riding for his health,” Mac responded. ”Anyway, you'll soon know; he's turning.”

Piegan swung into the coulee at a fast lope, and we stole carefully down to meet him. In the brush that concealed our horses Piegan dismounted, and, seating himself tailor-fas.h.i.+on on the ground, began to fill his pipe.

”First thing,” said he, ”we're a little behind the times. Your birds has took wing and flew the coop.”

”Took wing--how? And when?” we demanded.

”You'll _sabe_ better, I reckon, if I tell yuh just how I made out,”

Piegan answered, after a pause to light his pipe. ”When I got there last night they was most all asleep. But this mornin' I got a chance to size up the whole bunch, and nary one uh them jaspers I wanted t' see was in sight. So whilst we was eatin' breakfast I begins t' quiz, an', one way an' another, lets on I wanted t' see that Injun scout. One feller up an'

tells me he guess I'll find the breed at Fort Walsh, most likely. After a while I hears more talk, an' by askin' a few innocent questions I gets next t' some more. Puttin' this an' that together, this here's the way she stacks up: Lessard, as you fellers took notice, went in t' Walsh, takin' several men with him, Gregory bein' among the lot. He leaves orders that these fellers behind are t' comb the country till he calls 'em off. Yesterday mornin', in the thick uh the storm, a buck trooper arrives from Walsh, bearin' instructions for Goodell, Hicks an' another feller, which I reckon is Bevans. So when she clears up a little along towards noon, these three takes a packadero layout an' starts, presumable for Medicine Lodge. An' that's all I found out from the Policemen.”

”Scattered them around the country, eh?” Mac commented. ”d.a.m.n it, we're just as far behind as ever.”

”Hold your hosses a minute,” Piegan grinned knowingly. ”I said that was all I found out from the red jackets--but I did a little prognosticatin'

on my own hook. I figured that if them fellers. .h.i.t the trail yesterday afternoon as soon as the storm let up, they'd make one h.e.l.l of a good plain track in this sloppy goin' an' I was curious t' see if they lit straight for the Lodge. So when the bunch got out quite a ways, I quits the camp an' swings round in a wide circle--an' sure enough they'd left their mark. Three riders an' two pack-hosses. Easy trackin'? Well, I should say! They'd cut a trail in them doby flats like a bunch uh gallopin' buffalo. Say, where _is_ Medicine Lodge?”

”Oh, break away, Piegan,” Mac impatiently exclaimed. ”What are you trying to get at? You know where the Lodge is as well as I do.”

”Well, I always thought I knowed where 'twas,” Piegan retorted spiritedly, a wicked twinkle in his shrewd old eyes. ”But it must 'a'

changed location lately, for them fellers rode north a ways, an' then kept swingin' round till they was headin' due southeast. I follered their trail t' where yuh seen me turn this way, if yuh was watchin'.

Poor devils”--Piegan grinned covertly while voicing this mock sympathy--”they must 'a' got lost, I reckon. It really ain't safe for such pilgrims t' be cavortin' over the prairies with all that boodle in their jeans. I reckon we'll just naturally have t' pike along after 'em an' take care of it ourselves. They ain't got such a rip-roarin' start of us--an' I'm the boy can foller that track from h.e.l.l t' breakfast an'

back again. So let's eat a bite, an' then straddle our _caballos_ for some tall ridin'.”

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