_ CHAPTER XVII. A SECRET KEPT
Just fifteen minutes before the time of arrival set for the coach by schedule, Hal Harding drove up to the hotel at Last Chance.
From his entering the valley, and passing the first mine, he had been followed by cheer after cheer, until when he reached Landlord Larry's tavern there were many there to swell the chorus of welcome.
Larry greeted him most warmly, and when he saw what a valuable freight he had brought through with him, he told him that he was deserving of the highest praise.
Harding received the honors heaped upon him in a modest manner, and when asked by Landlord Larry if he had seen any road-agents, answered:
"Not one."
"All quiet along the trail, then?"
"As quiet as the grave."
"I suppose you were anxious upon reaching the Dead Line?"
"I think the horses were more nervous than I was, for they at least showed it."
"You told the agent at W---- about old Huck's fate?"
"Of course, sir, I told him of his mysterious disappearance."
"Do you know I half-way hoped you would hear something of old Huck at W----."
"No, I heard nothing of him there."
"And none of the stock-tenders had seen him?"
"They did not speak to me of having done so."
"Well, he is gone, that is certain; but you have begun well, Harding, and I hope may keep it up."
"Thank you, Landlord Larry, I hope that I will, for I have an abiding faith in the belief that I will live to be an old man."
"I hope so sincerely," said the doctor, who had been an attentive listener to the conversation between the young miner and Larry.
"They say at W----, Doctor Dick, that if I go under, you will be the only man who will dare drive the coach through."
"And I will not do it unless we are doomed to be cut off from all communication, and I see that Last Chance will be ruined, from fear of traveling the trail to it," said Doctor Dick decidedly.
"How is your patient, doctor?"
"Which one, for I have a number of patients just now?"
"The young man whose wound at the hands of the road-agents turned his brain."
"I see him daily, and he is about the same, like a child, mentally."
"They asked about him at W----, for the agent had received several letters regarding him."
"Ah!" said Doctor Dick, with interest. "What was their tenor?"
"That he had come out West upon a special mission, and with considerable money, and, since leaving W---- where he had written of his arrival, not a word had been heard from him."
"I am glad that he has friends, then, for he will be cared for in his misfortune."
"Yes, Doctor Dick, and the agent hinted that some one was coming out to look him up."
"I rejoice at this, for he needs care," the doctor rejoined, and he added:
"I have been convinced that he was no ordinary individual, and had been well reared; but what a blow it will be to his friends to find him as he is, poor fellow."
After some further conversation Harding went to his cabin for the night; but he was not long in discovering that he was regarded as a hero by all.
He had not made the slightest reference to having met old Huckleberry at the Dead Line, and as he thought over the fact that he had done so, and the secret that was known to him alone, he muttered to himself:
"If they only knew, what a sensation it would be for Last Chance, yes, and for W---- as well, not to speak of the masked road-agent chief and his men, who thus far have been playing a winning game; but luck sometimes turns, and I guess it is nearing the turning-point now, and will come our way."
Harding reported for duty promptly when the time came around for him to take the coach again on its perilous run.
"We have got considerable gold-dust aboard, pard, and a big outgoing mail, so I hope you will go through all right," said Landlord Larry, while Doctor Dick, who just then came up, said:
"Yes, Harding, I have several valuable letters in the mail with drafts for large sums which I sincerely hope will not miscarry."
"I'll do the best I can, Doctor Dick," was the answer, and Harding went out and mounted the box.
He could not but feel gratified at the size of the crowd that had gathered to see him depart, and he raised his sombrero politely in response to the cheers.
He had gone through in safety once; but could he do it a second time? That was the thought in the brain of every man there assembled.
At last the word was given, and away went the coach, cheered all the way down the valley until it was out of sight.
As before, the young driver lost no time on the trail, but upon reaching the Dead Line, instead of seeming to dread the spot and wishing to drive rapidly by, he dismounted from the box, and, going to the cross, felt about among the wild flowers growing about it until he picked up a slip of paper, while he hastily read what he found written thereon.
Taking from his pocket a similar slip, on which there was writing, he thrust it out of sight in the spot he had taken the other from. Then he returned to the coach and drove on once more as though he felt no fear of his surroundings.
He reached the night-cabin on time, and surprised the stock-tender there by telling him that he intended to drive on to W---- that night.
"You don't mean it?"
"I certainly do."
"Why, yer'll kill yer team, smash ther old box, and crush yerself to atoms."
"I believe I can drive the road at night," was the firm response.
"It's ther wust piece of road on ther whole Overland Trail."
"It is a bad one, but I will depend upon my team mainly and risk it."
"Why do you do it?"
"I have an idea that it will be safer."
"How so?"
"Well, if there were road-agents on the trail to hold me up to-morrow, I'll miss them, that is all."
"Right you are, pard; but I don't believe they is as dangerous as traveling this trail to-night."
"I'll let you know what I think upon my return," was Harding's answer, and he drove on once more.
Night had come on, and he well knew the dangers before him from a mistake in driving. He had been over the road perhaps half a dozen times, always riding upon the box, but upon his last run as driver he had most carefully noted every foot of the way.
The night was dark, but he knew that he had the instinct of his team to depend upon, and this was more than half the battle.
He was determined to push through and save his load of gold, and if he did make a successful run over that part of the trail by night, he would do what no other driver had done, and on this account his pride was at stake.
So he started boldly yet cautiously upon his way, and when the sun was just rising in W---- the stage-agent there was awakened by wheels dashing up to his door and heard the call:
"The coach from Last Chance has arrived."
He was up in a hurry and congratulating the young driver upon his night drive, while he said:
"Do you know I feared you would be held up to-day, for a party of desperadoes lately left W----, and I felt most anxious about you."
"Yes, they are on the trail waiting for me now, not knowing that I slipped by in the night. I'll get together a band of brave fellows and go back after them," and an hour after Harding was mounted upon a fine horse and leading a dozen men back upon the trail he had safely driven over in the night. _