Part 17 (1/2)
”What are you looking for?”
”Gold-dust from Anvil Creek.”
”All right--search away.”
They rapidly scoured the premises, covering every inch, paying no heed to the girl, who watched them with indifferent eyes, nor to the old man, who glared at their every movement. Glenister was carelessly sarcastic, although he kept his right arm free, while beneath his sang-froid was a thoroughly trained alertness.
McNamara directed the search with a manner wholly lacking in his former mock courtesy. It was as though he had been soured by the gall of defeat. The mask had fallen off now, and his character showed--insistent, overbearing, cruel. Towards the partners he preserved a contemptuous silence.
The invaders ransacked thoroughly, while a dozen times the hearts of Cherry Malotte and her two companions stopped, then lunged onward, as McNamara or Voorhees approached, then pa.s.sed the stove.
At last Voorhees lifted the lid and peered into its dark interior.
At the same instant the girl cried out, sharply, flinging herself from her position, while the marshal jerked his head back in time to see her dash upon Dextry.
”Don't! Don't!” She cried her appeal to the old man. ”Keep cool.
You'll be sorry, Dex--they're almost through.”
The officer had not seen any movement on Dextry's part, but doubtless her quick eye had detected signs of violence. McNamara emerged, glowering, from the back room at that moment.
”Let them hunt,” the girl was saying, while Dextry stared dazedly over her head. ”They won't find anything. Keep cool and don't act rash.”
Voorhees's duties sat uncomfortably upon him at the best, and, looking at the smouldering eyes of the two men, he became averse to further search in a powdery household whose members itched to shoot him in the back.
”It isn't here,” he reported; but the politician only scowled, then spoke for the first time directly to the partners:
”I've got warrants for both of you and I'm tempted to take you in, but I won't. I'm not through yet--not by any means. I'll get you-- get you both.” He turned out of the door, followed by the marshal, who called off his guards, and the group filed back along the walk.
”Say, you're a jewel, Cherry. You've saved us twice. You caught Voorhees just in time. My heart hit my palate when he looked into that stove, but the next instant I wanted to laugh at Dextry's expression.”
Impulsively Glenister laid his hands upon her shoulders. At his look and touch her throat swelled, her bosom heaved, and the silken lids fluttered until she seemed choked by a very flood of sweet womanliness. She blushed like a little maid and laughed a timid, broken laugh; then pulling herself together, the merry, careless tone came into her voice and her cheeks grew cool and clear.
”You wouldn't trust me at first, eh? Some day you'll find that your old friends are the best, after all.”
And as she left them she added, mockingly:
”Say, you're a pair of 's.h.i.+ne' desperadoes. You need a governess.”
CHAPTER XI
WHEREIN A WRIT AND A RIOT FAIL
A Raw, gray day with a driving drizzle from seaward and a leaden rack of clouds drifting low matched the sullen, fitful mood of Glenister.
During the last month he had chafed and fretted like an animal in leash for word of Wheaton. This uncertainty, this impotent waiting with folded hands, was maddening to one of his spirit. He could apply himself to no fixed duty, for the sense of his wrong preyed on him fiercely, and he found himself haunting the vicinity of the Midas, gazing at it from afar, grasping hungrily for such sc.r.a.ps of news as chanced to reach him. McNamara allowed access to none but his minions, so the partners knew but vaguely of what happened on their property, even though, under fiction of law, it was being worked for their protection.
No steps regarding a speedy hearing of the case were allowed, and the collusion between Judge Stillman and the receiver had become so generally recognized that there were uneasy mutterings and threats in many quarters. Yet, although the politician had by now virtually absorbed all the richest properties in the district and worked them through his hirelings, the people of Nome as a whole did not grasp the full turpitude of the scheme nor the system's perfect working.
Strange to say, Dextry, the fire-eater, had a.s.sumed an Oriental patience quite foreign to his peppery disposition, and spent much of his time in the hills prospecting.