Part 14 (1/2)

”Where is the rest of the bunch?” MacRae asked him evenly. ”You seem to have got a part of what is coming to you, but your skirts aren't clear, for all that.”

”You have a bone to pick with me, eh?” Goodell murmured. ”Well, I don't blame you. But don't adopt the role of inquisitor--because I'm as good as dead, and dead men tell no tales. My mouth will be closed forever in a little while--and I can die as easily with it unopened. But if you'll get me a drink of water, and be decent about it, I'll unfold a tale that's worth while. I a.s.sure you it will be to your interest to give me a hearing.”

Piegan turned and strode out of the timber. He unfastened the coffee-pot from my saddle, and made for the coulee channel we had crossed, in which a buffalo-wallow still held water from the recent rain.

Goodell coughed, and a red, frothy stream came from his lips. It isn't in the average man to be utterly callous to the suffering of another, even if that other richly deserves his pain. Notwithstanding the deviltry he and his confederates had perpetrated, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Goodell--what little I'd seen of him had been likable enough. I found it hard to look at him there and believe him guilty of murder, robbery, and kindred depredations. He was beyond reach of earthly justice, anyway; and one can't help forgiving much to a man who faces death with a smile.

”Are you in any pain, Goodell?” I asked.

”None whatever,” he answered weakly. ”But I'm a goner, for all that. I have a very neat knife-thrust in the back. Also a bullet somewhere in my lungs. You see in me,” he drawled, ”a victim of chivalry. I've played for big stakes; I've robbed gaily, and killed a man or two in the way of fighting; all of which sits lightly on my conscience. But there are two things I haven't done. I want you to remember distinctly that I have _not_ dragged that girl into this--nor had any hand in torturing a wounded old man.”

”You mean Lyn Rowan? Is she safe?” Mac squatted beside him, leaning eagerly forward to catch the reply. Piegan returned with the water as Goodell was about to answer. He swallowed thirstily, took breath, and went on.

”Yes, I mean her,” he said huskily. ”I'll tell you quick, for I know I won't last long, and when I'm done you'll know where to look for them. I started this thing--this hold-up business--no matter why. Lessard was away in the hole--gambling and other things--I hinted the idea to him; he jumped at it, as I thought he would. And----”

”Lessard!” I interrupted. ”He was in on this, then?”

”Was he?” Goodell echoed. ”He is the whole thing.”

I had suspected as much, but sometimes it is a surprise to have one's suspicions confirmed. I glanced at Mac and Piegan.

”I was sure of it all along,” Mac answered my unspoken thought. Piegan merely shrugged his shoulders.

”I wanted to get that government money in the pay-wagon, that was all--at first,” Goodell continued. ”We planned a long time ahead, and we had to take in those three to make it go. Then Lessard found out about those two old miners, and put Hicks and Gregory on their trail unknown to me--I had no hand in that foul business. You know the result--the finish--that night you lost the ten thousand--it was h.e.l.lish work. I wanted to kill Hicks and Gregory when they told me. Poor old Dutchman!

Lessard put Bevans on your trail, Flood. He followed you from Walsh that day, and you played into his hands that night when you stirred up the fire. Only for running into his partners, he would probably have murdered you for that ten thousand some night while you slept. Give me another drink.”

I lifted the pot of water to his lips again, and he thanked me courteously.

”Then Lessard conceived the theory that you fellows had learned more than you told. We were fixed to get the paymaster on that trip. We shook you, and did the job. MacRae was on the way--you know. He sent you to the Stone with those devils to keep cases on you. It seemed a pity to let slip that gold-dust after they had gone so far. You know how that panned out. We had a stake then. Lessard was the brains, the guiding genius; we did the work. The original plan was to make a clean-up, divide with him, and get out of the country--while he used his authority to throw the Force off the track till we were well away. Then the girl appeared, and Lessard lost his head. She turned him down; and at the last moment he upset our plans by deciding to cut loose and go with us.

I believe now that he hatched this latest scheme when she refused him. I tell you he was fairly mad about her. He took advantage of this last trip to loot the post of all the funds he could lay hands on. We have--or, rather, _they_ have,” he corrected, ”about a hundred and fifty thousand altogether.

”We couldn't ford Milk River on account of the storm. You tracked us?

You saw our last camp? Yes. Well, we left there early this morning. And when Hicks turned off opposite Baker's outfit with an extra horse, I thought nothing of it--it was perfectly safe, and we needed more matches, Lessard said. Not until he joined us later with the girl did I suspect that there were wheels within wheels; a kidnapping had never occurred to me; I hadn't thought his infatuation would carry him that far. She realized at once that she had been hoodwinked, and appealed to Lessard. He laughed at her, and told her that he had abandoned the modern method of winning a mate, and gone back to the primitive mode.

”I've put myself beyond the pale; outlaw, thief, what you like--I'm not sensitive to harsh names. But a woman--a good woman! Well, I have my own ideas about such things. And when we camped here, I had made up my mind.

I told Lessard she must go back. That was a foolish move. I should have got the drop and killed him out of hand. While I argued with him, Hicks slipped a knife into my back, and as I turned on him Lessard shot me.

Ah, well--it'll be all the same a hundred years from now. But I'd like to put a spoke in their wheel for the sake of that blue-eyed girl.

”MacRae, you and Smith know the mouth of Sage Creek, and the ford there.

That's where they'll camp to-night. I doubt if they'll cross the river till morning. If you ride you can make it in three hours. From there they plan to follow Milk River to the Missouri and catch a down-stream boat. But you'll get them to-night. You must. Now give me another drink--and drift!”

”We'll get them, Goodell.” MacRae rose to his feet as he spoke. ”You're white, if you did get off wrong. I'll remember what you did--for her. Is there anything we can do for you?”

Goodell shook his head. ”I tell you,” he said, and turned his head to look wistfully up at the eastern coulee-rim, all tinted with the blazing sunset. ”I'll go out over the hills with the shadows. An hour--maybe two. It's my time. I've no complaint to make. All I want is a drink. You can do no good for a dead man; and the living are sorely in need. It'll be a bit lonesome, that's all.”

”No message for anybody?” MacRae persisted.

”No--yes!” The old mocking, reckless tone crept into his voice again.