The deputies stared at each other, and the prisoners, having heard everything, began to clamor to be turned out.
--hut up!--snarled McNab.--he may be lyin't Might have had a quarrel with Corcoran and took this fool way to get even with him. We can't afford to take no chances. We--e got to be sure we know what we--e doin'tbefore we move either way. We can't afford to let you out now, on the chance that she might be lyin't But we--l give you weapons to defend yourselves.
--ere, take these rifles and hide--m under the bunks. Pete Daley, you stay here and keep folks shooed away from the jail till we get back. Richardson, you and Stark come with me! We--l have a show-down with Middleton right now!-- When Glory left the jail she headed for Hopkins--cabin. But she had not gone far when a reaction shook her. She was like one waking from a nightmare, or a dope-jag. She was still sickened by the discovery of Corcoran't duplicity in regard to the people of the camp, but she began to apply reason to her suspicions of his motives in regard to herself. She began to realize that she had acted illogically. If Corcoran't attitude toward her was not sincere, he certainly would not have asked her to leave the camp with him. At the expense of her vanity she was forced to admit that his attentions to her had not been necessary in his game of duping the camp. That was something apart; his own private business; it must be so. She had suspected him of trifling with her affections, but she had to admit that she had no proof that he had ever paid the slightest attention to any other woman in Wahpeton. No; whatever his motives or actions in general, his feeling toward her must be sincere and real.
With a shock she remembered her present errand, her reckless words to McNab. Despair seized her, in which she realized that she loved Steve Corcoran in spite of all he might be. Chill fear seized her that McNab and his friends would kill her lover. Her unreasoning fury died out, gave way to frantic terror.
Turning she ran swiftly down the gulch toward Corcoran't cabin. She was hardly aware of it when she passed through the blazing heart of the camp. Lights and bearded faces were like a nightmarish blur, in which nothing was real but the icy terror in her heart.
She did not realize it when the clusters of cabins fell behind her. The patter of her slippered feet in the road terrified her, and the black shadows under the trees seemed pregnant with menace. Ahead of her she saw Corcoran't cabin at last, a light streaming through the open door. She burst in to the office-room, panting--and was confronted by Middleton who wheeled with a gun in his hand.
--hat the devil are you doing here?--He spoke without friendliness, though he returned the gun to its scabbard.
--here-- Corcoran?--she panted. Fear took hold of her as she faced the man she now knew was the monster behind the grisly crimes that had made a reign of terror over Wahpeton Gulch. But fear for Corcoran overshadowed her own terror.
-- don't know. I looked for him through the bars a short time ago, and didn't find him. I-- expecting him here any minute. What do you want with him?----hat-- none of your business,--she flared.
--t might be.--He came toward her, and the mask had fallen from his dark, handsome face. It looked wolfish.
--ou were a fool to come here. You pry into things that don't concern you. You know too much. You talk too much. Don't think I-- not wise to you! I know more about you than you suspect.-- A chill fear froze her. Her heart seemed to be turning to ice. Middleton was like a stranger to her, a terrible stranger. The mask was off, and the evil spirit of the man was reflected in his dark, sinister face. His eyes burned her like actual coals.
-- didn't pry into secrets,--she whispered with dry lips.--didn't ask any questions. I never before suspected you were the chief of the Vultures--
The expression of his face told her she had made an awful mistake.
--o you know that!--His voice was soft, almost a whisper, but murder stood stark and naked in his flaming eyes.--didn't know that. I was talking about something else. Conchita told me it was you who told Corcoran about the plan to lynch McBride. I wouldn't have killed you for that, though it interfered with my plans. But you know too much. After tonight it wouldn't matter. But tonight-- not over yet--
--h!--she moaned, staring with dilated eyes as the big pistol slid from its scabbard in a dull gleam of blue steel. She could not move, she could not cry out. She could only cower dumbly until the crash of the shot knocked her to the floor.
As Middleton stood above her, the smoking gun in his hand, he heard a stirring in the room behind him. He quickly upset the long table, so it could hide the body of the girl, and turned, just as the door opened. Corcoran came from the back room, blinking, a gun in his hand. It was evident that he had just awakened from a drunken sleep, but his hands did not shake, his pantherish tread was sure as ever, and his eyes were neither dull nor bloodshot.
Nevertheless Middleton swore.
--orcoran, are you crazy?----ou shot?----shot at a snake that crawled across the floor. You must have been mad, to soak up liquor today, of all days!------ all right,--muttered Corcoran, shoving his gun back in its scabbard.
--ell, come on. I--e got the mules in the clump of trees next to my cabin. Nobody will see us load them. Nobody will see us go. We--l go up the ravine beyond my cabin, as we planned. There-- nobody watching my cabin tonight. All the Vultures are down in the camp, waiting for the signal to move. I-- hoping none will escape the vigilantes, and that most of the vigilantes themselves are killed in the fight that-- sure to come. Come on! We--e got thirty mules to load, and that job will take us from now until midnight, at least. We won't pull out until we hear the guns on the other side of the camp.----isten!-- It was footsteps, approaching the cabin almost at a run. Both men wheeled and stood motionless as McNab loomed in the door. He lurched into the room, followed by Richardson and Stark. Instantly the air was supercharged with suspicion, hate, tension. Silence held for a tick of time.
--ou fools!--snarled Middleton.--hat are you doing away from the jail?----e came to talk to you,--said McNab.--e--e heard that you and Corcoran planned to skip with the gold.-- Never was Middleton't superb self-control more evident. Though the shock of that blunt thunderbolt must have been terrific, he showed no emotion that might not have been showed by any honest man, falsely accused.
--re you utterly mad?--he ejaculated, not in a rage, but as if amazement had submerged whatever anger he might have felt at the charge.
McNab shifted his great bulk uneasily, not sure of his ground. Corcoran was not looking at him, but at Richardson, in whose cold eyes a lethal glitter was growing. More quickly than Middleton, Corcoran sensed the inevitable struggle in which this situation must culminate.
---- just sayin'twhat we heard. Maybe it's so, maybe it ain't. If it ain't, there-- no harm done,--said McNab slowly.--n the chance that it was so, I sent word for the boys not to wait till midnight. They--e goin'tto the jail within the next half hour and take Miller and the rest out.-- Another breathless silence followed that statement. Middleton did not bother to reply. His eyes began to smolder. Without moving, he yet seemed to crouch, to gather himself for a spring. He had realized what Corcoran had already sensed; that this situation was not to be passed over by words, that a climax of violence was inevitable.
Richardson knew this; Stark seemed merely puzzled. McNab, if he had any thoughts, concealed the fact.
--ay you was intendin'tto skip,--he said,--his might be a good chance, while the boys was takin'tMiller and them off up into the hills. I don't know. I ain't accusin'tyou. I-- just askin'tyou to clear yourself. You can do it easy. Just come back to the jail with us and help get the boys out.-- Middleton't answer was what Richardson, instinctive man-killer, had sensed it would be. He whipped out a gun in a blur of speed. And even as it cleared leather, Richardson't gun was out. But Corcoran had not taken his eyes off the cold-eyed gunman, and his draw was the quicker by a lightning-flicker. Quick as was Middleton, both the other guns spoke before his, like a double detonation. Corcoran't slug blasted Richardson't brains just in time to spoil his shot at Middleton. But the bullet grazed Middleton so close that it caused him to miss McNab with his first shot.