27 chapters
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27 chapters
CHAPTER I—SOME PLACE LIKE HOME
CHAPTER I—SOME PLACE LIKE HOME
The trail spilled into a pool of shadows at the bottom of the gorge. As if doubtful of following it, the lone rider in chaps and a flannel shirt drew up for a “breathing.” This was gratefully advantaged by his mount. Evidently they had come at speed, whatever the distance, for the reins were lathered and foam flecked the bit corners. The man removed his white sombrero and mopped his brow with a purple bandanna. The fingers with which he combed back his moist thatch nicely matched the hair in col
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CHAPTER II—A TIP FROM THE TOP
CHAPTER II—A TIP FROM THE TOP
“Lay off of that irreverence. You can’t cuss at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine—not in my presence, you can’t!” The topmost of the trail-blazing trees Pape offered as Exhibit “A” for the defense. The line of them, when sighted from below, looked to be leading, he declared. An off-duty grin humanized the official countenance. “White paint spots tell the tree gang to saw down dying trunks and haul the logs to the saw-mill over in North Meadow. If you was to follow all of them as bridle signs
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CHAPTER III—THE SKY SIGN
CHAPTER III—THE SKY SIGN
But we won’t go into the matter. Other writers have done it so often and so soulfully. The one best thing that may be remarked about such trials of the spirit is that they have an end as well as a beginning. At last and without totally wrecking the work of the launderer, Why-Not Pape’s famed will to win won. The shirt was harnessed; hooked-up; coupled. Now came the test of tests for his patience and persistence—for his tongue and other such equipment of the genus human for the exercise of self-c
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CHAPTER IV—DOUBLE FOCUS
CHAPTER IV—DOUBLE FOCUS
He made for the box office. The hour was late, or so he was informed by the man at the window. The curtains had been drawn aside many minutes before; were about to close again. The fashionable subscribers were seated. Wasn’t he able to see that even the S. R. O. sign was up outside? Standing room was not what Pape wanted—not with those patent pincers on his feet. Matter of fact, he wouldn’t have considered a stand-up view of anything. Before paying for the best orchestra seat they had—didn’t mat
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CHAPTER V—ONLY THE BRAVE
CHAPTER V—ONLY THE BRAVE
Her hand relaxed in his clasp. She rose to her feet; drew up to the full height of her well-poised slenderness. Her expression was neither welcoming nor forbidding; rather was the puzzled, half-ashamed and wholly honest look of a child who can’t remember. “Didn’t you ask me to come?” He bent to her with the low-spoken question; met her eyes as seriously as through the lenses a moment since; waited breathlessly for the test of just how fearless and frank was she. With hope he saw a faint flush sp
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CHAPTER VI—JUST AU REVOIR
CHAPTER VI—JUST AU REVOIR
But then, Irene’s mental eye was on herself. To her, evidently, all other women were more or less becoming backgrounds. That she should be so near him, Jane; that he actually should get—oh, it wasn’t imagination—the fragrance of her hair; yet that he should be so far away! ... She’d be annoyed and he must not do it, but he felt tempted to train his hired glasses on her, as she had trained hers on him only a few minutes since. He’d have liked again to draw her eyes close to his through their lens
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CHAPTER VII—THE EMERGENCY MAN
CHAPTER VII—THE EMERGENCY MAN
“Arsenal they calls it. Police station.” Succinct as his service, the licensed highwayman of city streets stepped on the gas and was off to other petty pilfering. Police stations and overcharges probably did not seem suitable to him on the same block. “The Arsenal, eh?” Pape queried himself. “Ain’t the Arsenal where Pudge O’Shay threatened to take me to tea the afternoon Dot polkaed up those sacred rocks to the block-house?” He crossed the oily asphalt, smeared with the spoor of countless motor
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CHAPTER VIII—EMPTY
CHAPTER VIII—EMPTY
Pape did wish. However, the sending of word to that effect proved unnecessary. Even as Mrs. Sturgis was crossing the room to ring for Jasper, Jane entered, dressed in a black and white checked skirt and loose white silk blouse. At sight of the caller she stopped short. “Well, I’ll be ——” “Oh no, you won’t, Miss Lauderdale—I believe?” Pape’s advance had interrupted her ejaculation. “You’re too much of a lady for that and far too good a sport to—to be in despair over your loss. The game is young y
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CHAPTER IX—SNUFFED
CHAPTER IX—SNUFFED
“Don’t mind in the least. Fact, I’d gladly tell you a lot about the who and what of Peter Stansbury Pape, but you’re not in a mood to hear. Out in Montana, where I hail from, we think a lot of straight friendship. If you could trust me, Miss Lauderdale, perhaps I’d be able to demonstrate the sort of friendship I mean.” “Well, I can’t trust you.” “Pardon me. Yes, you can.” He faced her with an emphasized look of that sincerity which before had compelled her. But she shifted her eyes stubbornly an
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CHAPTER X—THE OLD PARK LADY
CHAPTER X—THE OLD PARK LADY
A flock of Dorsets in the Great Garden of New York Town! More than a hundred horned heads he estimated them, not counting the wobbly-legged lambs trailing the ewes. Although oil was Pape’s bonanza, cattle was his stock in trade, yet he felt none of the cowman’s usual aversion for the wearers of fleece. He was, as a matter of fact, a “mixed” rancher, with sheep of his own on the Hellroaring reaches. He rejoiced that these animals, at least, could enjoy the company of their kind and graze to their
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CHAPTER XI—DUE EAST
CHAPTER XI—DUE EAST
The sagacity of the Belgian dog in bringing his bucket of bones to be buried where the burying was easy suggested that he had met up and made friends with her before in a like past proceeding. Now that she was headed in the general direction of her Fifth Avenue home, why didn’t she go to one of the nearer exits, hail a taxi or take a street-car around? Granting some reason why she preferred to walk, why not by the foot-path along Traverse Road, only a few rods below? That would have brought her
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CHAPTER XII—WHAT A WELCOME!
CHAPTER XII—WHAT A WELCOME!
“No near relative except ourselves, nor money enough to assure her independence. But we are only too happy to have her need us, to love her and provide for her. She is—” Mrs. Sturgis hesitated and seemed to be choosing her words with a nice regard for the delicacy of the subject. “She is perhaps just a bit strong-minded for the taste of men, our dear Jane. But strength is a splendid quality in a woman if applied in the right direction. Don’t you think so? Perhaps you don’t, though, being a tower
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CHAPTER XIII—IN HER SERVICE
CHAPTER XIII—IN HER SERVICE
A moment did he pause before the door of the fourth floor front. Suppose a maid attended his knock, for whom should he ask? “Miss Lauderdale” might not be known in the house—mention of the name might betray an incognito. Reminding himself, however, that a servant was the difficulty least likely to be encountered in that tenement, he knuckled up his hand and knocked. His first rap did not bring response; had to be repeated more peremptorily. He could hear low voices within. Then there was silence
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CHAPTER XIV—THE CREDIT PLAN
CHAPTER XIV—THE CREDIT PLAN
“What’s the case, sergeant?” With the question the attendant member of the force waved a hand toward the sheaf of ten machines which are kept unassigned to particular “speed cops”—an emergency motive-power reserve. Without necessity of an equivocation as to who he was, without flashing the badge of authority which he did not have—merely by using that slang term for the noisiest of motor vehicles which was in common usage in the Yellowstone as well as in New York, Pape had declared himself in his
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CHAPTER XV—THE LIMIT OF TRUST
CHAPTER XV—THE LIMIT OF TRUST
Again that rarely beautiful smile from eyes which appeared somehow to see more than was visible to those blessed with sight. “I was willing for you youngsters to do the actual fighting. But I felt called upon to take some part. What are two eyes compared with the inner knowledge that you did your bit? I only helped to make trench life easier, along with many other K-C’s and wearers of the ‘Y.’” “And how did they—get you?” “Enemy gas bombs didn’t respect non-combative insignia or uniforms. One of
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CHAPTER XVI—AN ACCEPTED ALLY
CHAPTER XVI—AN ACCEPTED ALLY
“You needn’t, Jen-Jen. It doesn’t matter what Mr. Pape looks like. Men show less on the outside what they are than women. I’d rather see him as he is inwardly. Already I know that he has both an imagination and a sense of humor. And he is direct with the skookum talk, which doesn’t lend to lies. As for his exterior, I imagine him as moderately sizeable and well-muscled and plain, or you wouldn’t have brought him around.” “Immoderately plain,” she corrected, still with a punishing air. “Good. The
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CHAPTER XVII—POPLARS FOUR
CHAPTER XVII—POPLARS FOUR
“Oh, Mr. Pape,” she lisped, as, actually, he was about to pass her by without his usual breezy greeting, “you’ve had three calls s’evening. You’re getting so popular. But I must say I don’t wonder at all.” “Three calls—and for me?” He was halted by honest amaze. “How come? I mean, from whom and what about? Say, was one a lady’s voice, sort of cool, yet kind, soft yet strong, gentle yet——” “No such riddle voice helloed you,” snapped the girl. “Three adult males they were that wanted you and one o
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CHAPTER XVIII—TOO READY RESCUE
CHAPTER XVIII—TOO READY RESCUE
The sergeant stared at him in amazement. “None of your business, you human mole.” “Then I’ll tell you,” was his easy-manner counter. “A sharp-faced little crook named Swinton Welch.” “Easy there with the hard names, young fellow! Swin Welch is a friend of mine and no person’s going to call him a crook to my face, much less a prisoner.” “Thought so,” said Pape with a grin. “If he ain’t a crook, how about the folks he’s working for?” Ignoring him, the sergeant opened the blotter. “Name?” “Peter St
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CHAPTER XIX—TEN OF TO-MORROW MORN
CHAPTER XIX—TEN OF TO-MORROW MORN
She had “quit him cold,” his self-selected lady. True, she had done so several times before. But it mattered more now. He had declared his fealty; to some extent, had proved it; had hoped that he was gaining in her esteem. Now he was dropped, like a superfluous cat, in a strange alley. He felt as flattened-out as the cement of the pavement on which he stood. Into it, through the soles of his boots, his heart seemed to sink from its weight ... down ... down. But as his heart sank, his mind rose i
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CHAPTER XX—ONE LIVELY ESCUTCHEON
CHAPTER XX—ONE LIVELY ESCUTCHEON
The flags of all the taxis he sighted were furled for earlier fares, but a flat-wheeled Fifty-ninth Street surface car bore him cross-town. The checker at the door of Polkadot’s palatial boarding-house further taxed his time. “Gent here asking for you, Mr. Pape, not more than half hour ago.... No, he wasn’t small or sharp-faced—not partic’aler so. No, he didn’t have no cauliflower ear. What I did notice was his wat’ry voice and what might pass for a mustache if you had magnifying eyes.... Said h
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CHAPTER XXI—IGNORING IRENE
CHAPTER XXI—IGNORING IRENE
“Irene” Harford interposed, “have you forgotten what your mother told you to do—rather not to do-regarding——” His stern tone made the acquisitive little creature’s fingers tighten on Pape’s arm; also made him lean toward her with the sympathy of a shared resentment. So the family had settled it in council—at Harford’s suggestion, doubtless—that Irene, as well as Jane, must cut the Montana ineligible. His shoulders shrugged for a bit of ignoring on his own account and his speech was all for Irene
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CHAPTER XXII—BEEF ON THE HOOF
CHAPTER XXII—BEEF ON THE HOOF
A thrill caught him as she closed up with all the recklessness of a cow-girl—a thrill that forced forgiveness for all the heart-wrenching wrongs she had done him. A flashed thought of Jane brought both relief and regret. If only she, too, had leaped to saddle and followed him—had yielded to the impulse of interest regained or never lost! Deeds, not words told the heart. He tried to be glad that she had thought first of herself, yet was sorry that he did not rank before the first in action’s hour
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CHAPTER XXIII—THE MAN BEHIND
CHAPTER XXIII—THE MAN BEHIND
Pape’s heart quickened from appreciation of her fealty. He decided if possible to “cut out” her alone from her undependable “bunch” and show her the discovery to which the beef-brute had led him—the latest operation of the Lauderdale enemy. “Why Not! So you’re safe?” The glad cry was Irene’s, as she pressed up to him. “But my pet cow—don’t tell me you let him get away?” “The ‘dar-rling’ is on the road to the calaboose—pinched for all sorts of crimes,” returned Pape unfeelingly. “You’ll need a la
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CHAPTER XXIV—LOST YET WON
CHAPTER XXIV—LOST YET WON
To the last word the verse carried to Pape’s ears, metered to match the two lines recited to him by Jane from her memory of the mysterious, stolen cryptogram. There seemed no reason to doubt that Allen was reading the rhymed instructions of the late Lauderdale eccentric. Swinton Welch was first to offer thin-voiced complaint against the poem’s ambiguity. “That third verse strikes me as the hardest yet, judge. What do you reckon them figures mean? I don’t see as there’s any way to decide whether
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CHAPTER XXV—HUNTERS HUNTED
CHAPTER XXV—HUNTERS HUNTED
But that hope, too, was outsped. Hoof-hammering behind caused both to glance over-shoulder at a bend. Three of the city’s mounted came pounding after them. Pape looked about to make sure of their location. The bridle path spilled into a pool of shadows at the bottom of a gorge; granite walls rolled back from trail-side. Recognition of the region which he had been exploring with Polkadot on his first clash with law and order aided in what was of necessity a lightning-changed decision. “Can’t make
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CHAPTER XXVI—HOUSE OF BLOCKS
CHAPTER XXVI—HOUSE OF BLOCKS
“Kicko—you scoundrel!”—Pape, sternly. “Precious pup!”—Jane, caressingly, from the floor seat into which she had collapsed from very weakness of her relief. Pape mounted the wobbly doorstep and peered outside. No accompanying officers loomed through the fast-falling shadows. Either the dog had outsped them or had deserted them temporarily for some reason canine and less comprehensible. On relatching the door and facing about, he saw that reason. The Belgian, his tail waving like a feather fan, tr
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CHAPTER XXVII—“FORTUNE FOREVERMORE”
CHAPTER XXVII—“FORTUNE FOREVERMORE”
“Accidents all round, eh?” Pape enquired. “Ain’t that odd?” “Indeed, yes, sir—odd and unfortunate.” Distressed as he looked, Jasper might have joined in the exchanged smile of the younger pair, had he known how fortuitous, if odd, was this gathering of those persons concerned in the pending crock’s-bottom settlement. Indeed, since the lid had been lifted from the bean pot of fabulous store, circumstances had worked with them. Their exit from the block-house and the park had been shared with that
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