Читать книгу Buffalo Bill's Still Hunt; Or, The Robber of the Range - Ingraham Prentiss - Страница 8

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The coach out of Pocket City carried as passengers Carrol Dean and Bonnie Belle, on their way East to the home of the miner.

Bonnie Belle did not say to her friends in Yellow Dust Valley that she would not return, for she feared that the result might be disastrous to her interests there. She told them she was going East on an important mission, and her interests in Pocket City were left to the management of the one who held the position of clerk in the Frying Pan Hotel.

Deadshot Dean had written to his wife to expect him home soon, and that he would bring with him one whom she would also be glad to welcome.

The stage-trail from Pocket City led within forty miles of Pioneer Post, and into the one from the fort at a point where there was a station with a corral of horses for the coaches and couriers.

It was while the coach was nearing this station that the driver heard the clatter of hoofs behind him, and, turning his head, saw a horseman coming along at rapid speed after the coach.

His first thought was that he was a road-agent in chase, and his next that the man might be a courier bearing despatches from the fort. But the horseman soon overtook the coach, and called out:

“Ho, driver, have you Bonnie Belle a passenger with you?”

“I has,” was the reply of Sandy Gill, the driver, and he eyed the horseman curiously.

“Then I have a letter for her.”

“A letter for me?” and Bonnie Belle looked out of the coach-window with surprise at the man, who was dressed as an army courier, and was well mounted.

“Are you Bonnie Belle, miss?”

“Yes, I am so called.”

“Of Yellow Dust Valley?”

“Yes, of Pocket City.”

“I have a letter, then, for you, miss.”

“Who has sent me a letter?”

“Its reading will tell you, miss.”

“You are not from the Yellow Dust country?”

“No, miss, I am from the fort at Pioneer Post.”

Bonnie Belle started at this, and glanced at the miner.

“What does it mean?” she asked Dean, seeming anxious not to touch the letter for some reason.

The miner asked:

“Do you come from the fort, my man?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you were sent with a letter for Bonnie Belle?”

“I was, sir, and upon reaching Pocket City, and learning that she had gone East by coach, I came on after her.”

“Who is this letter from?”

“I do not know, sir; but it was given to me by an officer at the fort, with orders to place it in the hands of Miss Bonnie Belle with the greatest despatch.”

“Give me the letter,” and Bonnie Belle held out her hand, which trembled as she read the address and seemed to recognize the writing.

“It is from——” and she said no more.

But Deadshot Dean recognized by her look of significance that she could only mean her brother, then a condemned prisoner at the fort. She nerved herself to break the seal, and asked:

“Is there an answer?”

“I was told that there was, miss.”

At this the miner stepped out of the coach, and left her to read the letter alone, for he saw that she was deeply affected.

While the miner, the courier, and the stage-coach driver were talking together, she read the letter. It was written in cipher, and she said:

“It is the alphabet which my poor brother taught me to write when I was a very little girl. He felt that I would remember it, and has written something he dared not let any other eye see, I suppose. Oh, if it should be an appeal to me to save him!”

She dashed the tears from her eyes, and nerved herself to read the letter which she seemed to dread so much. It was as follows:

“My Darling Sister: Do you remember away back when you were a little girl of ten, and I was dismissed from the navy, that you said, when father and mother were cold toward me, that you would never desert me?

“Do you recall again, when I came home from Germany, dismissed from the university on account of the fatal duel I fought, you again were my little comforter?

“So it has been through all, even when, maddened with jealousy, I sought the life of Carrol Dean, and, to escape, took my father’s money, you were the one to aid me secretly with funds and to cheer me with your loving letters.

“Every pledge I have made you I have ruthlessly broken, and I feel that you have utterly lost confidence in me.

“I have a friend in the fort who gets a messenger to carry this letter to you, and it is my last appeal, for through Carrol Dean you have heard that I am under sentence to die upon the gallows.

“Now I see my crimes in all their enormity, and I am not fit to die. I have repented, yet I would live to atone by good deeds for all the wicked ones I have been guilty of, and hence this my last sad appeal to you, my loving, faithful sister.

“Whatever you attempt to do, you can, I know, and I ask you to set me free, that henceforth, far from these scenes, I may live a better life and atone for the past.

“Do I appeal in vain, my sister? If not, send word by the messenger, simply:

“‘I will.’

“If in vain, send simply:

“I will not.’

“Feeling that I do not appeal in vain, believe me your unhappy brother,

“The Doomed Outlaw.”

Over and over again did Ruth Leigh read this letter from her doomed brother. He had struck the right chord in appealing to her as he did, for he admitted his guilt, and, repenting, wished to live only for atonement for the past.

Bonnie Belle was deeply impressed by the letter. Her brother had been her idol from her earliest girlhood, and she had condoned his sins, and hoped for his reformation in the end.

Had the reformation come at last?

It seemed so to her, and hence she decided to yield to this last appeal, to give him one more chance. Then she called to the courier, and said:

“Let me give you this for your trouble, so report that your services are paid for, please.”

With this she placed in his hand a bill, which the miner saw had an L upon it.

“Thank you kindly, miss. But the answer?”

“Is for you to report that I simply said:

“‘I will.’”

“Yes, miss, I will not forgit it.”

With this the courier turned away, mounted his horse, and started back upon the trail, while Bonnie Belle said to the driver:

“You are very kind to delay so long for me, and I thank you, Sandy.”

“Never mind the delay, Bonnie Belle, for I can make it up. Are you ready to go on now?”

“Yes.”

“Then jump aboard, Deadshot Dean, and I’ll send the critters ahead lively.”

The miner obeyed, and the coach rolled rapidly on its way.

For some time neither the driver nor the girl spoke. He would not ask her the nature of the letter she had received, unless she chose to reveal it; yet he could guess that it came from her outlaw brother.

On her part, she was wondering how she could confide her secret to Carrol Dean. After a while she decided that she could not tell him all, for it would be his duty to thwart her in her humane intention. So she said:

“Carrol Dean, you have been as a dear, good brother to me, and I hope that I may ever so regard you; but I fear that you will not approve of what I have decided to do.”

“What is it, Bonnie Belle?”

“I have a letter from my brother.”

“I guessed as much.”

“It is written in cipher, and was sent to me through some one in the fort who is friendly toward him.”

“I hardly believe that possible, so bitter was the feeling toward him. He must be an ally of his in some way.”

“That may be. But the appeal from him is a strong one, and I have decided to see him.”

“Do you mean it, Ruth?” asked the surprised miner.

“Yes.”

“You are wrong in doing so, very.”

“It may be that I am, but in this case I feel that I must see him. He is an outlaw, it is true. He has committed many crimes as Silk Lasso Sam, the road-agent chief, and yet now he is down, ironed hands and feet, a prisoner at the mercy of his foes. He is under sentence of death, and will soon be led upon the gallows, to die at the end of a rope.

“He will have not one near to cheer his last moments, to breathe one kind word, to utter one word of forgiveness, and he will be thrown into a nameless grave. With all his sins weighing him down, he is yet my brother, and I will not be a coward and desert him in his last moments. No, I sent him word that I would come to him, and I will.”

The earnest argument of the girl touched the miner deeply. He realized just how she felt and suffered, and said:

“I appreciate fully, Ruth, your position and your sorrow, and your kind heart does you credit; but in going to see your brother, to be with him in his last hours, to place him in the grave of a dishonored man, will not your sufferings be increased?”

“They may be, and yet what will be my sufferings to his despair? No, no, I shall go.”

“I will not say a word against it. Shall we catch the next coach back?”

“No, for you are not to go.”

“Do you expect me to leave you?”

“Yes, you must go to your family, and I will go back alone. I will go to Chicago, and then turn back from there and return to the fort. When I have done all in my power, Mr. Dean, for that stricken man, I will go to your home in the East. Need I say more?”

“No, I will trust you; but I would gladly return with you and wait until all is over.”

“That I cannot, will not allow. I must go alone,” was the determined reply of Bonnie Belle, and the miner urged no more.

Several days later a carriage drove up to the army headquarters in Chicago, and a lady wearing a heavy veil got out.

As she reached the reception-room she suddenly came face to face with the general’s orderly, and, throwing back her veil, she extended her hand, and said pleasantly and in a tone of surprise:

“Why, Bainbridge, you here?”

“As I live and move, it’s Bonnie Belle!” cried the orderly, grasping the extended hand in both his own.

“Yes, Bainbridge, and I am glad to see you once more, though I did not know that you were a soldier.”

“Yes; I came home, as you know, with a snug little fortune in gold, but I speculated and lost it, and some months ago, when in hard luck here in Chicago, I stopped the horses of the general’s carriage when they were running away, the driver having been thrown from the box, and the general and his wife were inside.

“He asked me what he could do for me, and I said that, as I had a record as an old soldier, I would enter the army again, and he made me his orderly, and here I am, Bonnie Belle, and as glad a man as ever was to see your beautiful face again, for it takes me back to the mines, and the time you saved my life that night in Devil’s Den. I’ll never forget you for it, Bonnie Belle, for if you had not vouched for me, the boys would have hanged me sure.”

“They certainly would have done so, Bainbridge, and have been sorry for it the next day, when they found out who the real criminal was. But is the general in?”

“No, Bonnie Belle, he has gone out to lunch, but he will soon return, so walk into his private office and await his coming.”

“Is no one there?”

“Not a soul at this hour, miss.”

“I will go, then.”

She was led by the orderly into the private quarters of the general commanding, and as she halted near the desk, she asked:

“Bainbridge, will you kindly get me a glass of water?”

The orderly promptly disappeared upon the errand, and quickly Bonnie Belle stepped to the desk, glanced at something that caught her eye, and thrust it in her pocket.

“Who is the assistant adjutant-general, Bainbridge, on the general’s staff?” she asked casually, after drinking the water and thanking him for it.

The orderly told her, and then the two had quite a long talk together before the officer referred to entered.

“A lady to see the general, sir, upon important business,” said the orderly.

“Be seated, madam, for the general will return very soon.”

A moment after the general entered and bowed as he saw a lady in waiting. When she threw back her veil, revealing her beautiful face, he seemed impressed, and said, with marked courtesy:

“How can I serve you, miss?”

“Permit me to ask you, general, if I can confide a secret to you and yet keep my name from you?”

“Certainly, if you wish.”

“My mission, then, sir, is one of sorrow to me, for I come to ask a favor of you.”

“Of what tenor, miss?”

“There has been captured at Pioneer Post a noted criminal, for he is an outlaw and road-agent, known as Silk Lasso Sam.”

“Yes, I have word from Colonel Dunwoody, of the fort, and that he has been sentenced to death for his crimes.”

“Is this legal, general?”

“It is justice and military law, for that prevails in that wild land of lawlessness.”

“Suppose that he were already amenable to the civil laws for crimes committed, could he not be taken from the military prison for trial East?”

“That may be, but I apprehend no such demand.”

“Nor do I, sir, only I wished to know if I should appeal to the civil or the military for permission to see this condemned man, and be with him in his last moments.”

“Ah! that is the situation, is it, miss?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What is this man to you?”

“All that I have in the world of near kindred, sir—my brother.”

“Indeed? You have my sympathy indeed, my dear lady.”

“And is your sympathy deep enough, may I ask, to allow of your permitting me to go to this doomed brother of mine, be with him in his last hours, and, when your military law has been satisfied by his death, to permit me to claim the body for burial? Remember, I do not attempt to deny his crimes, or to palliate them in the slightest degree, for he deserves death for breaking the laws of his land as he has; but I do beg for this mercy for him, and for me, that you permit me to be with him in his last moments.”

The general bit his lips, and the adjutant turned his gaze earnestly upon the fair pleader, for he, too, was impressed.

“My dear young lady, I will not deny you. I will grant your request,” said the general. “Colonel, write out an official order to Colonel Dunwoody, to permit this lady to see her brother at will, and to turn over the body of the man to her after his execution.”

“I thank you, sir, most sincerely,” and the tears came into the beautiful eyes of the girl.

The order was written, signed, and sealed, and both officers arose as Bonnie Belle took her leave, the general himself opening the door for her, while the orderly, in the corridor, escorted her to the carriage.

“Here is my address, Bainbridge, so call on me this evening, and do not say to any one that you know me.”

“You can rely on me fully, Bonnie Belle,” answered the orderly, as he closed the door.