The Man of the Forest Part 20

"Do you reckon folks will side with him against Beasley?"

"Some of them. But Al, like as not, will tell folks to go where it's hot. He'll bunch his men an' strike for the mountains to find his nieces."

"Wal, all you've got to do is to keep the girls hid till I can guide him up to your camp. Or, failin' thet, till you can slip the girls down to Pine."

"No one but you an' your brothers ever seen my senaca. But it could be found easy enough."

"Anson might blunder on it. But thet ain't likely."

"Why ain't it?"

"Because I'll stick to thet sheep-thief's tracks like a wolf after a bleedin' deer. An' if he ever gets near your camp I'll ride in ahead of him."

"Good!" declared Dale. "I was calculatin' you'd go down to Pine, sooner or later."

"Not unless Anson goes. I told John thet in case there was no fight on the stage to make a bee-line back to Pine. He was to tell Al an' offer his services along with Joe an' Hal."

"One way or another, then, there's bound to be blood spilled over this."

"Sh.o.r.e! An' high time. I jest hope I get a look down my old 'forty-four'

at thet Beasley."

"In that case I hope you hold straighter than times I've seen you."

"Milt Dale, I'm a good shot," declared Roy, stoutly.

"You're no good on movin' targets."

"Wal, mebbe so. But I'm not lookin' for a movin' target when I meet up with Beasley. I'm a hossman, not a hunter. You're used to shootin' flies off deer's horns, jest for practice."

"Roy, can we make my camp by to-morrow night?" queried Dale, more seriously.

"We will, if each of us has to carry one of the girls. But they'll do it or die. Dale, did you ever see a gamer girl than thet kid Bo?"

"Me! Where'd I ever see any girls?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Dale. "I remember some when I was a boy, but I was only fourteen then. Never had much use for girls."

"I'd like to have a wife like that Bo," declared Roy, fervidly.

There ensued a moment's silence.

"Roy, you're a Mormon an' you already got a wife," was Dale's reply.

"Now, Milt, have you lived so long in the woods thet you never heard of a Mormon with two wives?" returned Roy, and then he laughed heartily.

"I never could stomach what I did hear pertainin' to more than one wife for a man."

"Wal, my friend, you go an' get yourself ONE. An' see then if you wouldn't like to have TWO."

"I reckon one 'd be more than enough for Milt Dale."

"Milt, old man, let me tell you thet I always envied you your freedom,"

said Roy, earnestly. "But it ain't life."

"You mean life is love of a woman?"

"No. Thet's only part. I mean a son--a boy thet's like you--thet you feel will go on with your life after you're gone."

"I've thought of that--thought it all out, watchin' the birds an'

animals mate in the woods.... If I have no son I'll never live hereafter."

"Wal," replied Roy, hesitatingly, "I don't go in so deep as thet. I mean a son goes on with your blood an' your work."

"Exactly... An', Roy, I envy you what you ve got, because it's out of all bounds for Milt Dale."

Those words, sad and deep, ended the conversation. Again the rumbling, rushing stream dominated the forest. An owl hooted dismally. A horse trod thuddingly near by and from that direction came a cutting tear of teeth on gra.s.s.

A voice pierced Helen's deep dreams and, awaking, she found Bo shaking and calling her.

"Are you dead?" came the gay voice.

"Almost. Oh, my back's broken," replied Helen. The desire to move seemed clamped in a vise, and even if that came she believed the effort would be impossible.

"Roy called us," said Bo. "He said hurry. I thought I'd die just sitting up, and I'd give you a million dollars to lace my boots. Wait, sister, till you try to pull on one of those stiff boots!"

With heroic and violent spirit Helen sat up to find that in the act her aches and pains appeared beyond number. Reaching for her boots, she found them cold and stiff. Helen unlaced one and, opening it wide, essayed to get her sore foot down into it. But her foot appeared swollen and the boot appeared shrunken. She could not get it half on, though she expended what little strength seemed left in her aching arms. She groaned.

Bo laughed wickedly. Her hair was tousled, her eyes dancing, her cheeks red.

"Be game!" she said. "Stand up like a real Western girl and PULL your boot on."

Whether Bo's scorn or advice made the task easier did not occur to Helen, but the fact was that she got into her boots. Walking and moving a little appeared to loosen the stiff joints and ease that tired feeling. The water of the stream where the girls washed was colder than any ice Helen had ever felt. It almost paralyzed her hands. Bo mumbled, and blew like a porpoise. They had to run to the fire before being able to comb their hair. The air was wonderfully keen. The dawn was clear, bright, with a red glow in the east where the sun was about to rise.

"All ready, girls," called Roy. "Reckon you can help yourselves. Milt ain't comin' in very fast with the hosses. I'll rustle off to help him.

We've got a hard day before us. Yesterday wasn't nowhere to what to-day 'll be."

"But the sun's going to shine?" implored Bo.

"Wal, you bet," rejoined Roy, as he strode off.

Helen and Bo ate breakfast and had the camp to themselves for perhaps half an hour; then the horses came thudding down, with Dale and Roy riding bareback.

By the time all was in readiness to start the sun was up, melting the frost and ice, so that a dazzling, bright mist, full of rainbows, shone under the trees.

Dale looked Ranger over, and tried the cinches of Bo's horse.

"What's your choice--a long ride behind the packs with me--or a short cut over the hills with Roy?" he asked.