_ CHAPTER VI. OUT OF THE STORM
The challenge had gone forth. In those two vivid shafts of light, in the deafening peals of thunder the war of elements had been proclaimed, and these men of the wilderness understood something of their danger.
Thereafter, for some moments, a threatening silence reigned everywhere. The birds, the insects even, all life seemed to crouch, hushed and expectant. The valley might have been the valley of death, so still, so dark, so threatening was the superheated atmosphere that hung over it.
The men within the shelter of the hut waited, and only Buck and Blue Grass Pete stood near the blanket-covered doorway. There was little enough confidence in the inefficient shelter of the hut, but it was their natural retreat and so they accepted it. Then the moment of tension passed, and Buck, glancing swiftly round the hut, seized a hammer and hastily secured the covering of the doorway.
"She'll be on us right smart," he observed to Pete, who assisted him while the others looked on.
"Yes," replied Pete resignedly. "Guess we're goin' to git it good." There was not only resignation, but indifference in his tone.
Buck glanced up at the roof, and the rest followed his gaze curiously. He shook his head.
"It's worse than----"
But he did not finish what he had to say. A strange hissing broke from the distance, like the sound of rushing water, and, with each passing moment, it grew in volume until, out of the heart of it, a deep-throated roar boomed over the hilltops.
It was a great wind-storm leaping down from the everlasting snows of the mountains, tearing its way through the lean branches of the forest-tops, the wide-gaping valleys, and rushing up the hillsides with a violence that tore limbs from the parent trunks and rooted out trees that had withstood a thousand storms. It was the deep breath of the storm fiend launched upon a defenseless earth, carrying wreck and destruction whithersoever its blast was turned.
"By Jing'!"
It was Montana Ike who voiced the awe crowding every heart.
But his exclamation brought the practical mind of Buck to consideration of their needs. His eyes turned again to the roof, and Pete voiced his thoughts.
"She'll carry away like--like a kite when it hits us," he declared. Several more pairs of eyes were turned helplessly upward. Suddenly Buck swung round upon the doorway.
"Here she comes," he cried. "Holy----!"
With a rush and a deafening roar the wind hit the building and set it rocking. Buck and Pete flung themselves with arms outspread against the ballooning blanket, and it held. Again the wind crashed against the sides of the hut. Some one flung himself to the two men's assistance. Then came a ripping and tearing, and the thatch hissed away on the breath of the storm like straw caught in a whirlwind. The men gazed stupidly up at the blackened heavens, which were now like night. There was nothing to be done. What could they do? They were helpless. And not even a voice could make itself heard in the howling of the wind as it shrieked about the angles of the building.
Then came the rain. It fell in great drops whose sheer weight and size carried them, at the moment of impact, through the ragged shirts to the warm flesh beneath. In a second, it seemed, a waterspout was upon them and was pouring its tide into the roofless hut.
With the deluge, the elemental battle began in desperate earnest. Peal after peal of thunder crashed directly overhead, and with it came such a display of heavenly pyrotechnics that in their wildest moments these men had never dreamed of. Their eyes were blinded, and their ear-drums were bursting with the incessant hammering of the thunder.
But the wind had passed on, shrieking and tearing its way into the dim distance until its voice was utterly drowned in the sterner detonations of the battle.
Drenched to the skin, knee-deep in water, the men stood herded together like sheep in a pen. Their blankets were awash and floated about, tangling their legs in the miniature lake that could not find rapid enough exit through the doorway. They could only stand there stupidly. To go outside was to find no other shelter, and only the more openly to expose themselves to the savage forks of lightning playing across the heavens in such blinding streaks. Nor could they help the women even if they needed help in the other huts. The roofs and doors would or would not hold, and, in the latter case, until the force of the storm abated no help could serve them.
The storm showed no signs of abatement. The black sky was the sky of an unlit night. There was no lightening in any direction, and the blinding flashes amidst the din of thunder only helped to further intensify the pitchy vault. The splitting of trees amidst the chaos reached the straining ears, and it was plain that every flash of light was finding a billet for its forked tongue in the adjacent forests.
The time dragged on. How long or how short was the period of the storm none of the men wondered or cared. The rapidity of the thunder crashes, the swift successions of lightning entirely held them, and, strong as they were, these things kept their nerves jumping.
Once in the midst of it all a man suddenly cried out. His cry came with a more than usually brilliant flash of purplish, steel-blue fire. The intensity of it carried pain to the now supersensitive nerves of his vision, and he turned and flung himself with his face buried upon his arm against the dripping wall. It was Beasley Melford. He stood there cowering, a dreadful terror shaking his every nerve.
The others turned stupidly in his direction, but none had thought for his suffering. Each was hard pressed to face the terror of it all himself; each was wondering at what moment his own limits would be reached. Buck alone showed no sign of the nervous tension. His deep brown eyes watched the group about him, automatically blinking with every flash of light, and with only the slightest possible start as the thunder crashed into his ears.
He was thinking, too--thinking hard of many things. The Padre was out in the hills with gun and traps. Would he have anticipated the swift rising storm and regained the shelter of the stout old fort? With the boom of falling trees going on about them, with the fiery crackle of the blazing light as it hit the topmost branches of the adjacent forest, he wondered and hoped, and feared for the old man in the same thought.
Then there were those others. The women and children in the other huts. How were they faring? But he remembered that the married quarters were better built than this hut had been, and he drew comfort from the thought. And what of the Kid, and of Caesar?
More than two hours passed before any change came. The deafening peals of thunder seemed as though they would never lessen in tone. The night-like heavens seemed as though no sun could ever hope to penetrate them again. And the streaming rain--was there ever such a deluge since the old Biblical days!
Buck understood now the nature of the storm. Probably twenty years would elapse before another cloudburst would occur again, and the thought set him speculating upon the effect this might have upon the lake on Devil's Hill. What might not happen? And then the creek below! He remembered that these huts of the gold-seekers were on the low-lying banks of the creek. What if it flooded? He stirred uneasily, and, turning to the doorway, opened a loose fold in the blanket and peered out.
He saw the creek in a sudden blaze of light, and in that momentary brilliance he saw that the rushing water was rising rapidly. A grave feeling of uneasiness stirred him and he turned back to his companions. For once in his life he felt utterly helpless.
Another hour passed. The atmospheric heat had passed, and the men stood shivering in the water. The chill was biting into their very bones, but still there was no respite. Twice more Buck turned anxious eyes upon the creek. And each time his alarm increased as the blinding light revealed the rapid rise of the water. He dared not voice his fears yet. He understood the condition of mind prevailing. To warn his companions would be to set them rushing to get their womenfolk out of their shelters, and this must not be thought of--yet.
He had just arrived at the conclusion that he would abide by his next observation when the long-looked-for change began. It came as suddenly as the rising of the storm itself. It came in a rapid lightening of the sky overhead. From black to gray it turned almost in a second. A dull, ominous, rolling world of gray rain-clouds. The thunder died away and the blinding flashes came no more. It was as though the storm had been governed by one all-powerful will and the word to "cease fire" had been hurled across the heavens as the last discharge of monstrous artillery had been fired. Then, with the lifting of the darkness, the rain slackened too, and the deluge eased.
Buck sighed his relief, and Curly Saunders, from near by, audibly expressed his.
"She's lettin' up," he growled.
Pete caught at his words.
"It sure is."
Buck was about to speak, but his lips remained open and he stood listening.
What was that?
Something was moving beyond the doorway. Something touched the blanket as though seeking support. Then it slid down, its movement visible in the bulging of the drenched cloth. This was followed by a heavy, squelching flop. The body, whatever it was, had fallen into the streaming water pouring from within the hut. Then came a long-drawn, piteous moan that held the men gazing silently and stupidly at the sagging blanket.
It was while they stood thus that the rain ceased altogether, and the great storm-clouds broke and began to disperse, and a watery sunbeam lit the wreck of the passing storm. As its light poured in upon the wretched interior a second moan, short and weak but distinctly audible, reached the astounded ears of the men. There was a moment's pause as it died out, then Buck's arm shot out, and, seizing the edge of the blanket, he ripped it from its fastenings and let it fall to the ground. Instantly every neck was set craning, and every eye was alight with wonder, for there, half-resting upon the sill of the doorway, and half-lying upon the ground with the water streaming everywhere about her, lay the huddled, half-drowned figure of a young woman.
"It's--it's a--woman," cried Pete stupidly, unable to contain his astonishment longer.
"It sure is," murmured Curly, with equal brightness.
But while they gave the company the benefit of their keenness of perception Buck had dropped upon his knees and was bending over the wretched victim of the storm. He raised her, and drew her tenderly into his arms.
"'Tain't one of ours," announced Ike over his shoulder.
"No." Buck's monosyllable displayed no great interest in his remark.
Amidst a dead silence Buck suddenly straightened up, with the dripping figure clasped tightly in his strong arms. A great pity shone in his eyes as he gazed down into the fair young face. It was the first time in all his life he had held a woman in his arms, and the sensation of it made him forget those others about him.
Suddenly Ike's voice aroused him.
"By Gar!" he cried. "Jest look at that red ha'r. Say, easy, boys, we're treadin' it around in the mud."
It was true. The great masses of the girl's red-gold hair had fallen loose and were trailing in the water as Buck held her. It reached from the man's shoulder, where her head was pillowed, and the heavy-footed men were trampling the ends of it into the mud. Ike stooped and rescued the sodden mass, and laid it gently across Buck's shoulders.
For a moment the sun shone down upon the wondering group. The clouds had broken completely, and were scattering in every direction as though eager to escape observation after their recent shameful display. No one seemed to think of moving out into the rapidly warming open. They were content to gather about Buck's tall figure and gape down at the beautiful face of the girl lying in his arms.
It was Beasley Melford who first became practical.
"She's alive, anyway," he said. "Sort o' stunned. Mebbe it's the lightnin'."
Pete turned, a withering glance upon his foxy face.
"Lightnin' nuthin'," he cried scornfully. "If she'd bin hit she'd ha' bin black an' dead. Why, she--she ain't even brown. She's white as white." His voice became softer, and he was no longer addressing the ex-Churchman. "Did y' ever see sech skin--so soft an' white? An' that ha'r, my word! I'd gamble a dollar her eyes is blue--ef she'd jest open 'em."
He reached out a great dirty hand to touch the beautiful whiteness of the girl's throat with a caressing movement, but instantly Buck's voice, sharp and commanding, stayed his action.
"Quit that!" he cried. "Ke'p your durned hands to yourself," he added, with a strange hoarseness.
Pete's eyes lit angrily.
"Eh? What's amiss?" he demanded. "Guess I ain't no disease."
Beasley chuckled across at him, and the sound of his mirth infuriated Buck. He understood the laugh and the meaning underlying it.
"Buck turned wet nurse," cried the ex-Churchman, as he beheld the sudden flush on the youngster's face.
"You can ke'p your durned talk," Buck cried. "You Beasley--and the lot of you," he went on recklessly. "She's no ord'nary gal; she's--she's a lady."
Curly and Ike nodded agreement.
But Beasley, whatever his fears of the storm, understood the men of his world. Nor had he any fear of them, and Buck's threat only had the effect of rousing the worst side of his nature, at all times very near the surface.
"Lady? Psha'! Write her down a woman, they're all the same, only dressed different. Seems to me it's better they're all just women. An' Pete's good enough for any woman, eh, Pete? She's just a nice, dandy bit o' soft flesh an' blood, eh, Pete? Guess you like them sort, eh, Pete?"
The man's laugh was a hideous thing to listen to, but Pete was not listening. Buck heard, and his dark face went ghastly pale, even though his eyes were fixed on the beautiful face with its closed, heavily-lashed eyes. Pete's attention was held by the delicate contours of her perfect figure and the gaping, bedraggled white shirt-waist, where the soft flesh of her fair bosom showed through, and the delicate lace and ribbons of her undergarments were left in full view.
No one offered Beasley encouragement and his laugh fell flat. And when Curly spoke it was to express something of the general thought.
"Wonder how she came here?" he said thoughtfully.
"Seems as though the storm had kind o' dumped her down," Abe Allinson admitted.
Again Beasley chuckled.
"Say, was ther' ever such a miracle o' foolishness as you fellers? You make me laff--or tired, or something. Wher'd she come from? Ain't the Padre sold his farm?" he demanded, turning on Buck. "Ain't he sold it to a woman? An' ain't he expectin' her along?"
Buck withdrew his eyes from the beautiful face, and looked up in answer to the challenge.
"Why, yes," he said, his look suddenly hardening as he confronted Beasley's face. "I had forgotten. This must surely be Miss--Miss Rest. That's the name Mrs. Ransford, the old woman at the farm, said. Rest." He repeated the name as though it were pleasant to his ears.
"Course," cried Curly cheerfully. "That's who it is--sure."
"Rest, eh? Miss--Rest," murmured the preoccupied Pete. Then he added, half to himself, "My, but she's a dandy! Ain't--ain't she a pictur', ain't she----?"
Buck suddenly pushed him aside, and his action was probably rougher than he knew. But for some reason he did not care. For some reason he had no thought for any one but the fair creature lying in his arms. His head was throbbing with a strange excitement, and he moved swiftly toward the door, anxious to leave the inquisitive eyes of his companions behind him.
As he reached the door Beasley's hateful tones arrested him.
"Say, you ain't takin' that pore thing up to the fort, are you?" he jeered.
Buck swung about with the swiftness of a panther. His eyes were ablaze with a cold fire.
"You rotten outlaw parson!" he cried.
He waited for the insult to drive home. Then when he saw the fury in the other's face, a fury he intended to stir, he went on--
"Another insinuation like that an' I'll shoot you like the dog you are," he cried, and without waiting for an answer he turned to the others. "Say, fellers," he went on, "I'm takin' this gal wher' she belongs--down to the farm. I'm goin' to hand her over to the old woman there. An' if I hear another filthy suggestion from this durned skunk Beasley, what I said goes. It's not a threat. It's a promise, sure, an' I don't ever forgit my promises."
Beasley's face was livid, and he drew a sharp breath.
"I don't know 'bout promises," he said fiercely. "But you won't find me fergittin' much either."
Buck turned to the door again and threw his retort over his shoulder.
"Then you sure won't forgit I've told you what you are."
"I sure won't."
Nor did Buck fail to appreciate the venom the other flung into his words. But he was reckless--always reckless. And he hurried through the doorway and strode off with his still unconscious burden. _