The Magic Of Ben Stark
: The BarrierBefore the party came in sight, the sound of their voices reached
the cabin, and Burrell rose nervously and sauntered to the door.
Uncertain how this affair might terminate, he chose to get first
look at his enemies, if they should prove to be such, realizing the
advantage that goes to a man who stands squarely on both feet.
The trail came through the brush at the rear, and he heard Lee say:
"Likely looking gulch," Gale was heard to reply, in his deep tones--
there was a crackle of dead brush, a sound as of a man tripping and
falling heavily, then oaths in a voice that made the Lieutenant
start.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Doret. "You mus' be tired, Meestaire R-r-unnion.
Better you pick up your feet. Dat's free tarn' you've-"
They emerged into the open behind the house to pause in line back of
Lee, who was staring at the stove-pipe of his cabin, from which came
a wisp of smoke. It seemed to Burrell that they held their position
for a long time. Then he heard Lee say:
"Well, I'll be damned! Somebody's here ahead of us."
"We've been beaten," growled Stark, angrily, pushing past him and
coming round the corner, an ugly look in his eyes.
Burrell was standing at ease in the door, smoking, one forearm
resting on the jamb, his wide shoulders nearly filling the entrance.
"Good-afternoon," he nodded, pleasantly.
Lee answered him unintelligibly; Stark said nothing, but Runnion's
exclamation was plain.
"It's that damned blue-belly!"
"When did YOU get here?" said Stark, after a pause.
"A few hours ago."
"How did you come?" asked Lee.
"Black Bear Creek," said the soldier, curtly, at which Runnion broke
into profanity.
"Better hush," Burrell admonished him; "there's a lady inside," and
at that instant Necia showed her laughing face under his arm, while
the trader uttered her name in amazement.
"Lunch is ready," she said. "We've been expecting you for quite a
while."
"Ba Gar! Dat's fonny t'ing for sure," said Poleon. "Who tol' you
'bout dis strike--eh?"
"Mother; I made her," the girl answered.
"Take off your packs and come in," Burrell invited, but Stark strode
forward.
"Hold on a minute. This don't look good to me. You say your mother
told you. I suppose you're Old Man Gale's other daughter--eh?"
Necia nodded.
"What time of day was it when you learned about this?"
"Cut that out," roughly interjected Gale. "Do you think I double-
crossed you?"
The other turned upon him.
"It looks that way, and I intend to find out. You said yesterday you
hadn't told anybody--"
"I didn't think about the woman," said the trader, a trifle
disconcerted, whereupon Runnion gave vent to an ironical sneer.
"But here's your girl and this man ahead of us. I suppose there's
others on the way, too."
"Nonsense!" Burrell cut in. "Don't quarrel about this. Miss Gale got
wind of your secret, and beat you at your own game, so that ends it;
but there's plenty of ground left for all of you, and no harm done.
Nobody knows of this strike from us, I can assure you."
"I call it dam' sleeck work," chuckled the Canadian, slipping out of
his straps. "De nex' tam' I go stampedin' I tak' you 'long, Necia."
"Me, too," said Lee. "An' now I'm goin' to tear into some of them
beans I smell a bilin' in yonder."
The others followed, although Stark and Runnion looked black and had
little to say. It was an uncomfortable meal--every one was ill at
ease; Gale, in particular, was quiet, and ate less than any of them.
His eyes sought Stark's face frequently, and once the blood left his
cheeks and his eyes blazed as he observed the gambler eying Necia,
gazing at her with the same boldness he would have used in scanning
a horse.
"You are a mighty good-looking girl for a 'blood,'" remarked Stark,
at last.
"Thank you," she replied, simply, and the soldier's vague dislike of
the man crystallized into hate on the instant. There was a tone back
of his words that seemed aimed at the trader, Meade thought, but
Gale showed no sign of it, so the meal was finished in silence,
after which the five belated prospectors went out to make their
locations, for the fear of interruption was upon them now.
First they went down-stream, and, according to their agreement, the
trader staked first, followed by Poleon and Stark, thus throwing
Runnion's claim more than a mile distant from Lee's discovery. From
here they went up the creek to find the girl's other locations, one
on each branch, at which Stark sneeringly remarked that she had pre-
empted enough ground for a full-grown white woman.
Runnion's displeasure was even more open, and he fell into foul-
mouthed mutterings, addressing himself to Poleon and Stark while the
trader was out of earshot.
"This affair don't smell right, and I still think it's a frame-up."
"Bah!" exclaimed Doret.
"The old man sent the girl on ahead of us to blanket all the good
ground. That's what he did!"
"Dat's fool talk," declared the Frenchman.
"I'm not so sure," Stark broke in. "You remember he hung back and
wanted to go slow from the start; and didn't he ask us to camp early
last night? Looks now as if he did it just to give her time to get
in first. He admitted that he knew the Black Bear trail, and if he
lied about keeping his mouth shut to the squaw, he'd lie about
other--"
"Wait wan minnit," interrupted Poleon, his voice as soft as a
woman's. "I tol' you dat I know all 'bout dis Black Bear Creek,
too--you 'member, eh? Wal, mebbe you t'ink I'm traitor, too. Wat?
W'y don' you spik out?"
The three of them were alone, and only the sound of Gale's axe came
to them; but at the light in the Canadian's face Runnion hastily
disclaimed any such thought on his part, and Stark shrugged his
denial.
"I don' know you feller' at all," continued Poleon, "but Ole Man
Gale, he's my frien', so I guess you don' better talk no more lak'
dat."
"Don't get sore," said Stark. "I simply say it looks bad." But the
other had turned his back and was walking on.
There are men quite devoid of the ability to read the human face,
and Runnion was of this species. Moreover, malice was so bitter in
his mouth that he must have it out, so when they paused to blaze the
next stake he addressed himself to Stark loud enough for Poleon to
hear.
"That Lieutenant is more of a man than I thought he was."
"How so?" inquired the older man.
"Well, it takes nerve to steal a girl for one night and then face
the father; but the old man don't seem to mind it any more than she
does. I guess he knows what it means, all right."
Stark laughed raucously. "I thought of that myself," he said.
"That's probably how Gale got his squaw," concluded Runnion, with a
sneer.
It seemed a full minute before the Frenchman gave sign that he had
heard, then a strange cry broke from his throat and he began to
tremble as if with cold. He was no longer the singer of songs or the
man who was forever a boy; the mocking anger of a moment ago was
gone; in its place was a consuming fury that sucked the blood from
beneath his tan, leaving him the pallor of ashes, while his mouth
twitched and his head rolled slightly from side to side like a
palsied old man's. The red of his lips was blanched, leaving two
white streaks against a faded, muddy background, through which came
strange and frightful oaths in a bastard tongue. Runnion drew back,
fearful, and the older man ceased chopping and let his axe hang
loosely in his hand. But evidently Poleon meant no violence, for he
allowed the passion to run from him freely until it had spent its
vigor, then said to Runnion:
"M'sieu, eider you are brave man or dam' fool."
"What do you mean, Frenchy?" said the man addressed, uneasily.
"Somebody goin' die for w'at you say jus' now. Mebbe it's goin' be
you, m'sieu; mebbe it's goin' be him; I can't tell yet, but I'm hope
an' pray it's goin' be you, biccause I t'ink w'at you say is a lie,
an' nobody can spik dose kin' of lie 'bout Necia Gale."
He went crashing blindly through the underbrush, his head wagging,
his shoulders slumped loosely forward like those of a drunken man,
his lips framing words they could not understand.
When he had disappeared Runnion drew a deep breath.
"I guess I've framed something for Mister Burrell this time."
"You go about it queer," said Stark. "I'd rather tackle a gang-saw
than a man like Poleon Doret. Your frame-up may work double."
"Huh! No chance. The soldier was out all night alone with that half-
breed girl, and anybody can see she's crazy about him. What's the
answer?"
"Well, she's mighty pretty," agreed the other, "most too pretty for
a mixed blood, but you can't make that Frenchman believe she's
wrong."
"Why, he believes it now," chuckled Runnion, "or at least he's
jealous, and that's just as good. Those two will have trouble before
dark. I wish they would--then I'd have a chance."
"Have you got your eye on her, too?"
"Sure! Do you blame me?"
"No, but she's too good for you."
"Then she's too good for them. I think I'll enter the running."
"Better stay out," the gambler advised; "you'll have sore feet
before you finish. As a matter of fact, I don't like her father any
better than you like her lovers--"
"Well, it's mutual. I can see Gale hates you like poison."
"--and I don't intend to see him and his tribe hog all the best
ground hereabouts."
"They've already done it. You can't stop them."
Before answering, Stark listened for the trader, but evidently Gale
had finished his task and returned to the shack, for there was
neither sign nor sound of him.
"Yes, I can stop them," said Stark. "I want the ground that girl has
staked, and I'm going to get it. It lies next to Lee's, and it's
sure to be rich; ours is so far away it may not be worth the
recorder's fees. This creek may be as spotted as a coach-dog, so I
don't intend to take any chances."
"She made her locations legally," said Runnion.
"You leave that to me. When will the other boys he here?"
"To-morrow morning. I told them to follow about four hours behind,
and not to run in on us till we had finished. They'll camp a few
miles down the creek, and be in early."
"You couldn't get but three, eh?"
"That's all I could find who would agree to give up half."
"Can we count on them?"
"Huh!" the other grunted. "They worked with me and Soapy on the
Skagway trail."
"Good. Five against three, not counting the girl and the
Lieutenant," Stark mused. "Well, that will do it." He outlined his
plan, then the two returned to the cabin to find Lee cooking supper.
Poleon was there with the others, but, except for his silence, he
showed no sign of what had taken place that afternoon.
Stark developed a loquacious mood after supper, devoting himself
entirely to Necia, in whom he seemed to take great interest. He was
an engaging talker, with a peculiar knack of suggestion in story-
telling--an unconscious halting and elusiveness that told more than
words could express--and, knowing his West so well, he fascinated
the girl, who hung upon his tales with flattering eagerness.
Poleon had finished several pipes, and now sat in the shadows in the
open doorway, apparently tired and dejected, though his eyes shone
like diamonds and roved from one to the other. Half unconsciously he
heard Stark saying:
"This girl was about your size, but not so dark. However, you remind
me of her in some ways--that's why it puts her in my mind, I
suppose. She was about your age at the time--nineteen."
"Oh, I'm not eighteen yet," said Necia.
"Well, she was a fine woman, anyhow, the best that ever set foot in
Chandon, and there was a great deal of talk when she chose young
Bennett over the Gaylord man, for Bennett had been running second
best from the start, and everybody thought it was settled between
her and the other one. However, they were married quietly."
The story did not interest the Canadian; his mind was in too great
agitation to care for dead tales; his heart burned within him too
fiercely, and he felt too great a desire to put his hands to work.
As he watched Burrell and Runnion bend over the table looking at a
little can of gold-dust that Lee had taken from under his bunk, his
eyes grew red and bloodshot beneath his hat-brim. Which one of the
two would it be, he wondered. From the corner of his eye he saw Gale
rise from Lee's bed, where he had stretched himself to smoke, and
take his six-shooter from his belt, then remove the knotted bandanna
from his neck, and begin to clean the gun, his head bowed over it
earnestly, his face in the shadow. He had ever been a careful and
methodical man, reflected Poleon, and evidently would not go to
sleep with his fire-arm in bad condition.
"Nobody imagined that Gaylord would cause trouble," Stark was
saying, "for he didn't seem to be a jealous sort, just stupid and
kind of heavy-witted; but one night he took advantage of Bennett's
absence and sneaked up to the house." The story-teller paused, and
Necia, who was under the spell of his recital, urged him on:
"Yes, yes. What happened then? Go on." But Stark stared gloomily at
his hands, and held his silence for a full minute, the tale
appearing to have awakened more than a fleeting interest in him.
"It was one of the worst killings that ever happened in those
parts," he continued. "Bennett came back to find his wife murdered
and the kid gone."
"Oh!" said the girl, in a shocked voice.
"Yes, there was the deuce of a time. The town rose up in a body, and
we--you see, I happened to be there--we followed the man for weeks.
We trailed him and the kid clear over into the Nevada desert where
we lost them."
"Poor man!"
"Poor man?" The story-teller raised his eyes and laughed sinisterly.
"I don't see where that comes in."
"And you never caught him?"
"No. Not yet."
"He died of thirst in the desert, maybe, he and the little one."
"That's what we thought at the time, but I don't believe it now."
"How so?"
"Well, I've crossed his trail since then. No. Gaylord is alive to-
day, and so is the girl. Some time we'll meet--" His voice gave out,
and he stared again at the floor.
"Couldn't the little girl be traced?" said Necia. "What was her
name?"
Stark made to speak, but the word was never uttered, for there came
a deafening roar that caused Lee's candle to leap and flicker and
the air inside the cabin to strike the occupants like a blow.
Instantly there was confusion, and each man sprang to his feet
crying out affrightedly, for the noise had come with utter
unexpectedness.
"My God, I've killed him!" cried Gale, and with one jump he cleared
half the room and was beside Stark, while his revolver lay on the
floor where he had been sitting.
"What is it?" exclaimed Burrell; but there was no need to ask, for
powder-smoke was beginning to fill the room and the trader's face
gave answer. It was whiter than that of his daughter, who had
crouched fearfully against the wall, and he shook like a man with
ague. But Stark stood unhurt, and more composed than any of them;
following the first bound from his chair, he had relapsed into his
customary quiet. There had blazed up one momentary flash of
suspicion and anger, but it died straightway, for no man could have
beheld the trader and not felt contrition. His condition was
pitiable, and the sight of a strong man overcome is not pleasant;
when it was seen that no harm had been done the others strove to
make light of the accident.
"Get together, all of you! It's nothing to be excited over," said
Stark.
"How did it happen?" Runnion finally asked Gale, who had sunk limply
upon the edge of the bunk; but when the old man undertook to answer
his words were unintelligible, and he shook his head helplessly.
Stark laid his finger on the hole that the bullet had bored in the
log close to where he was sitting, and laughed.
"Never mind, old man, it missed me by six inches. You know there
never was a bullet that could kill me. I'm six-shooter proof."
"Wha'd I tell you?" triumphantly ejaculated Lee, turning his one eye
upon the Lieutenant. "You laughed at me, didn't you?"
"I'm beginning to believe it myself," declared the soldier.
"It's a cinch," said Stark, positively,
Doret, of all in the cabin, had said nothing. Seated apart from the
others, he had seen the affair from a distance, as it were, and now
stepped to the bed to lay his hand on Gale's shoulder.
"Brace up, John! Sacre" bleu! Your face look lak' flour. Come
outside an' get li'l' air."
"It will do you good, father," urged Necia.
The trader silently rose, picked up his hat, and shambled out into
the night behind the Frenchman.
"The old man takes it hard," said Lee, shaking his head, and Burrell
remarked:
"I've seen things like that in army quarters, and the fellow who
accidentally discharges his gun invariably gets a greater shock than
his companion."
"I call it damned careless, begging your pardon, Miss Necia," said
Runnion.
Poleon led his friend down the trail for half a mile without
speaking, till Gale had regained a grip of himself and muttered,
finally:
"I never did such a thing before, Poleon, never in all my life."
The young man turned squarely and faced him, the starlight
illumining their faces dimly.
"Why?" said Doret.
"Why?" echoed Gale, with a start. "Well, because I'm careful, I
suppose."
"Why?" insisted the Frenchman.
"I--I--I--What do you mean?"
"Don" lie wit' me, John. I'm happen to be watch you underneat' my
hat w'en you turn roun' for see if anybody lookin'."
"You saw?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were asleep," said Gale.
More
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A little dust cloud was traveling up the trail toward the Bar Double G, the center of which presently defined itself as a rider moving at a road gait. He wore a Chihuahua hat and with it the picturesque trappings the Southwest borrows on occasion ... The Marathon
"I have seen a thing that humans call friendship. It is clearer, higher, less frequent than the thing they call love." MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. At 66th street, Jim had passed the Califo... The Mask Ball
"I have seen in the coyote pack that coyotes who will not hunt and fight for the pack must starve and die." MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. "You are not!" returned Pen flatly. "You don't see the hum... The Masked Rider
Venters looked quickly from the fallen rustlers to the canyon where the others had disappeared. He calculated on the time needed for running horses to return to the open, if their riders heard shots. He waited breathlessly. But the estimat... The Master
It was noon by the sun when Hopalong and Red shook hands south of the old ford and the former turned to enter the brush. Hopalong was cool and ominously calm while his companion was the opposite. Red was frankly suspicious of the whole affair and nu... The Meeting At Sandy
December, and the noonday sun at Sandy still beat hotly on the barren level of the parade. The fierce and sudden campaign seemed ended, for the time, at least, as only in scattered remnants could the renegade Indians be found. Eastward from the Ag... The Meeting By The Waters
Under the willows at the edge of the pool a young girl sat daydreaming, though the day was nearly done. All in the valley was wrapped in shadow, though the cliffs and turrets across the stream were resplendent in a radiance of slanting sunshine. N... The Midnight Searching Party
The night was growing late and there were anxious hearts at "Roderick's." The four-in-hand had arrived hours before, and Silent Pete had also brought his party safely in--to the mutual relief of himself and Miss Milliken, the latter really surpris... The Midnight Visitor
Toy raised his head sharply from his little flat pillow where he lay in his tent, pitched for convenience beside the kitchen, and listened. A sound like the cautious scraping of the sagging storehouse door on the other side of the kitchen had awak... The Mill-wheel Of Steers
Meantime, at the ranch, when Judkins's news had sent Venters on the trail of the rustlers, Jane Withersteen led the injured man to her house and with skilled fingers dressed the gunshot wound in his arm. "Judkins, what do you think ... The Moon The Maid And The Winged Shoes
The last place I locked wheels with Mike Butters was in Idaho. I'd just sold a silver-lead prospect and was proclaimin' my prosperity with soundin' brass and ticklin' symbols. I was tuned up to G and singin' quartettes with the bartender--opery bu... The Morgan Hills
Once out of Rickett, Barry pulled the stallion back to an easy canter. He had camped during the latter part of the night near the town and ridden in in the morning, so that Satan was full of running. He rebelled now against this easy pace, and tosse... The Mountain Trail
As Stewart departed from one door Florence knocked upon another; and Madeline, far shaken out of her usual serenity, admitted the cool Western girl with more than gladness. Just to have her near helped Madeline to get back her balance. She was consc... The Mourners At San Francisco
The telegraph operator at the Golden Gate of San Francisco had long since given up hope of the Excelsior. During the months of September and October, 1854, stimulated by the promised reward, and often by the actual presence of her owners, he had s... The Mourners At Todos Santos
There was a breath of spring in the soft morning air of Todos Santos--a breath so subtle and odorous that it penetrated the veil of fog beyond the bay, and for a moment lingered on the deck of a passing steamer like an arresting memory. But only f... The Mule Driver And The Garrulous Mute
Bill had finished panning the concentrates from our last clean-up, and now the silver ball of amalgam sizzled and fried on the shovel over the little chip-fire, while we smoked in the sun before the cabin. Removed from the salivating fumes of the q... The Muleshoe
The riders of the Muleshoe outfit were eating breakfast when Bud rode past the long, low-roofed log cabin to the corral which stood nearest the clutter of stables and sheds. He stopped there and waited to see if his new boss was anywhere in sight an... The Murder On The Beach
At this moment the cook stuck his head in at the open door. "Say, you fellows," he complained, "I got to be up at three o'clock. Ain't you never going to turn in?" "Shut up, Doctor!" "Somebody kill him!" "Here, sit down and listen to this yar... The Music
To the last ravine Kate's horse carried her easily enough, but that mountain pass was impenetrable through all its length to anything except the uncanny agility of Satan, and so she left the cow-pony in the bottom of the gorge and climbed the last r... The Mysterious Motor-car
Buck took to Jim Tenny at once. There was something about this long, lean, brown-faced foreman of the Rocking-R, with his clear gray eyes and that half-humorous twist to his thin lips, which inspired not only confidence but liking as well. He list... The New Alliance
"And so," said Lee Haines, when he joined Buck Daniels in the living-room, "there goes our reinforcements. That whole crew will scatter like dead leaves when Barry breezes in. It looks to me--" "Shut up!" cut in Daniels. "Shut up!" His dark, ho... The New Assistant At Pine Clearing School
CHAPTER I. The schoolmistress of Pine Clearing was taking a last look around her schoolroom before leaving it for the day. She might have done so with pride, for the schoolroom was considered a marvel of architectural elegance by the citizens... The New Foreman
Toward the end of the week Stillwell informed Madeline that Stewart had arrived at the ranch and had taken up quarters with Nels. "Gene's sick. He looks bad," said the old cattleman. "He's so weak an' shaky he can't lift a cup. Nels says that Gene... The New Master
Right in front of the school door, and some little distance from it, in the midst of a clump of maples, stood an old beech-tree with a dead top, and half-way down where a limb had once been and had rotted off, a hole. Inside this hole two very res... The Newspaper Clew
"Do you think he'll catch that fellow?" It was Phil who asked the question, as he and Dave and Roger watched the old miner disappear around a bend of the back trail. "I don't know about that," returned Dave. "But if he gets the horses back it... The Night Herd
By the time the Hardy faction had given up the chase in disgust, Caldwell, White, and Scotty had joined Tip and the Texan some miles below Midway on the Chisholm Trail. The former three were jubilant over their unexpected release from the fire trap...