Bob Hampton of Placer, Page 3

  CHAPTER III

  BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH

  The remainder of that day, as well as much of the gloomy nightfollowing, composed a silent, lingering horror. The fierce pangs ofhunger no longer gnawed, but a dull apathy now held the helplessdefenders. One of the wounded died, a mere lad, sobbing pitifully forhis mother; an infantryman, peering forth from his covert, had beenshot in the face, and his scream echoed among the rocks in multipliedaccents of agony; while Wyman lay tossing and moaning, mercifullyunconscious. The others rested in their places, scarcely venturing tostir a limb, their roving, wolfish eyes the only visible evidence ofremaining life, every hope vanished, yet each man clinging to hisassigned post of duty in desperation. There was but little firing--thedefenders nursing their slender stock, the savages biding their time.When night shut down the latter became bolder, and taunted cruellythose destined to become so soon their hapless victims. Twice themaddened men fired recklessly at those dancing devils, and one pitchedforward, emitting a howl of pain that caused his comrades to cower onceagain behind their covers. One and all these frontiersmen recognizedthe inevitable--before dawn the end must come. No useless words werespoken; the men merely clinched their teeth and waited.

  Hampton crept closer in beside the girl while the shadows deepened, andventured to touch her hand. Perhaps the severe strain of theirsituation, the intense loneliness of that Indian-haunted twilight, hadsomewhat softened her resentment, for she made no effort now to repulsehim.

  "Kid," he said at last, "are you game for a try at getting out of this?"

  She appeared to hesitate over her answer, and he could feel hertumultuous breathing. Some portion of her aversion had vanished. Hisface was certainly not an unpleasant one to look upon, and there wereothers other sex who had discovered in it a covering for a multitude ofsins. Hampton smiled slightly while he waited; he possessed someknowledge of the nature feminine.

  "Come, Kid," he ventured finally, yet with new assurance vibrating inhis low voice; "this is surely a poor time and place for any indulgencein tantrums, and you 've got more sense. I 'm going to try to climb upthe face of that cliff yonder,--it's the only possible way out fromhere,--and I propose to take you along with me."

  She snatched her hand roughly away, yet remained facing him. "Who gaveyou any right to decide what I should do?"

  The man clasped his fingers tightly about her slender arm, advancinghis face until he could look squarely into hers. She read in the linesof that determined countenance an inflexible resolve which overmasteredher.

  "The right given by Almighty God to protect any one of your sex inperil," he replied. "Before dawn those savage fiends will be upon us.We are utterly helpless. There remains only one possible path forescape, and I believe I have discovered it. Now, my girl, you eitherclimb those rocks with me, or I shall kill you where you are. It isthat, or the Sioux torture. I have two shots left in this gun,--onefor you, the other for myself. The time has come for deciding which ofthese alternatives you prefer."

  The gleam of a star glittered along the steel of his revolver, and sherealized that he meant what he threatened.

  "If I select your bullet rather than the rocks, what then?"

  "You will get it, but in that case you will die like a fool."

  "You have believed me to be one, all this afternoon."

  "Possibly," he admitted; "your words and actions certainly justifiedsome such conclusion, but the opportunity has arrived for causing me torevise that suspicion."

  "I don't care to have you, revise it, Mr. Bob Hampton. If I go, Ishall hate you just the same."

  Hampton's teeth clicked like those of an angry dog. "Hate and bedamned," he exclaimed roughly. "All I care about now is to drag youout of here alive."

  His unaffected sincerity impressed her more than any amount ofpleading. She was long accustomed to straight talk; it always meantbusiness, and her untutored nature instantly responded with a throb ofconfidence.

  "Well, if you put it that way," she said, "I 'll go."

  For one breathless moment neither stirred. Then a single wild yellrang sharply forth from the rocks in their front, and a rifle barkedsavagely, its red flame cleaving the darkness with tongue of fire. Aninstant and the impenetrable gloom again surrounded them.

  "Come on, then," he whispered, his fingers grasping her sleeve.

  She shook off the restraining touch of his hand as if it werecontamination, and sank down upon her knees beside the inert body. Hecould barely perceive the dim outlines of her bowed figure, yet nevermoved, his breath perceptibly quickening, while he watched and waited.Without word or moan she bent yet lower, and pressed her lips upon thecold, white face. The man caught no more than the faintest echo of amurmured "Good-bye, old dad; I wish I could take you with me." Thenshe stood stiffly upright, facing him. "I'm ready now," she announcedcalmly. "You can go on ahead."

  They crept among low shrubs and around the bowlders, carefully guardingevery slightest movement lest some rustle of disturbed foliage, orsound of loosened stone, might draw the fire of those keen watchers.Nor dared they ignore the close proximity of their own little company,who, amid such darkness, might naturally suspect them for approachingsavages. Every inch of their progress was attained through tediousgroping, yet the distance to be traversed was short, and Hampton soonfound himself pressing against the uprising precipice. Passing hisfingers along the front, he finally found that narrow ledge which hehad previously located with such patient care, and reaching back, drewthe girl silently upon her feet beside him. Against that background ofdark cliff they might venture to stand erect, the faint glimmer ofreflected light barely sufficient to reveal to each the shadowy outlineof the other.

  "Don't move an inch from this spot," he whispered. "It wouldn't be asquare deal, Kid, to leave those poor fellows to their death withouteven telling them there's a chance to get out."

  She attempted no reply, as he glided noiselessly away, but her face,could he have seen it, was not devoid of expression. This was an actof generosity and deliberate courage of the very kind most apt toappeal to her nature, and within her secret heart there was rapidlydeveloping a respect for this man, who with such calm assurance won hisown way. He was strong, forceful, brave,--Homeric virtues of realworth in that hard life which she knew best. All this swept across hermind in a flash of revelation while she stood alone, her eyesendeavoring vainly to peer into the gloom. Then, suddenly, that blackcurtain was rent by jagged spurts of red and yellow flame. Dazed foran instant, her heart throbbing wildly to the sharp reports of therifles, she shrank cowering back, her fascinated gaze fixed on thoseimp-like figures leaping forward from rock to rock. Almost with theflash and sound Hampton sprang hastily back and gathered her in hisarms.

  "Catch hold, Kid, anywhere; only go up, and quick!"

  As he thus lifted her she felt the irregularities of rock beneath herclutching fingers, and scrambled instinctively forward along the narrowshelf, and then, reaching higher, her groping hands clasped the rootsof a projecting cedar. She retained no longer any memory for Hampton;her brain was completely terrorized. Inch by inch, foot by foot,clinging to a fragment of rock here, grasping a slippery branch there,occasionally helped by encountering a deeper gash in the face of theprecipice, her movements concealed by the scattered cedars, she toiledfeverishly up, led by instinct, like any wild animal desperately drivenby fear, and only partially conscious of the real dread of her terribleposition. The first time she became aware that Hampton was closelyfollowing was when her feet slipped along a naked root, and she wouldhave plunged headlong into unknown depths had she not come into suddencontact with his supporting shoulder. Faint and dizzy, and tremblinglike the leaf of an aspen, she crept forward onto a somewhat widerledge of thin rock, and lay there quivering painfully from head tofoot. A moment of suspense, and he was outstretched beside her,resting at full length along the very outer edge, his hand closingtightly over her own.

  "Remain perfectly quiet," he whispered, pan
ting heavily. "We can be nosafer anywhere else."

  She could distinguish the rapid pounding of his heart as well as herown, mingled with the sharp intake of their heavy breathing, but thesesounds were soon overcome by that of the tumult below. Shots andyells, the dull crash of blows, the shouts of men engaged in a deathgrapple, the sharp crackling of innumerable rifles, the inarticulatemoans of pain, the piercing scream of sudden torture, were borne upwardto them from out the blackness. They did not venture to lift theirheads from off the hard rock; the girl sobbed silently, her slenderform trembling; the fingers of the man closed more tightly about herhand. All at once the hideous uproar ceased with a final yelping oftriumph, seemingly reechoed the entire length of the chasm, in themidst of which one single voice pleaded pitifully,--only to die away ina shriek. The two agonized fugitives lay listening, their earsstrained to catch the slightest sound from below. The faint radianceof a single star glimmered along the bald front of the cliff, butHampton, peering cautiously across the edge, could distinguish nothing.His ears could discern evidences of movement, and he heard gutturalvoices calling at a distance, but to the vision all was black. Thedistance those faint sounds appeared away made his head reel, and heshrank cowering back against the girl's body, closing his eyes andsinking his head upon his arm.

  These uncertain sounds ceased, the strained ears of the fugitives heardthe crashing of bodies through the thick shrubbery, and then even thisnoise died away in the distance. Yet neither ventured to stir orspeak. It may be that the girl slept fitfully, worn out by long vigiland intense strain; but the man proved less fortunate, his eyes staringout continually into the black void, his thoughts upon other days longvanished but now brought back in all their bitterness by the mereproximity of this helpless waif who had fallen into his care. Hisfeatures were drawn and haggard when the first gray dawn found ghastlyreflection along the opposite rock summit, and with blurred eyes hewatched the faint tinge of returning light steal downward into thecanyon. At last it swept aside those lower clinging mists, as thoughsome invisible hand had drawn back the night curtains, and he peeredover the edge of his narrow resting-place, gazing directly down uponthe scene of massacre. With a quick gasp of unspeakable horror heshrank so sharply back as to cause the suddenly awakened girl to startand glance into his face.

  "What is it?" she questioned, with quick catching of breath, readingthat which she could not clearly interpret in his shocked expression.

  "Nothing of consequence," and he faintly endeavored to smile. "Isuppose I must have been dreaming also, and most unpleasantly. No;please do not look down; it would only cause your head to reel, and ourupward climb is not yet completed. Do you feel strong enough now tomake another attempt to reach the top?"

  His quiet spirit of assured dominance seemed to command her obedience.With a slight shudder she glanced doubtfully up the seeminglyinaccessible height.

  "Can we?" she questioned helplessly.

  "We can, simply because we must," and his white teeth shut togetherfirmly. "There is no possibility of retracing our steps downward, butwith the help of this daylight we surely ought to be able to discoversome path leading up."

  He rose cautiously to his feet, pressing her more closely against theface of the cliff, thus holding her in comparative safety whilepreventing her from glancing back into the dizzy chasm. The mostdifficult portion of their journey was apparently just before them,consisting of a series of narrow ledges, so widely separated andirregular as to require each to assist the other while passing frompoint to point. Beyond these a slender cleft, bordered by gnarledroots of low bushes, promised a somewhat easier and securer passagetoward the summit. Hampton's face became deathly white as they beganthe perilous climb, but his hand remained steady, his foot sure, whilethe girl moved forward as if remaining unconscious of the presence ofdanger, apparently swayed by his dominant will to do whatsoever he badeher. More than once they tottered on the very brink, held to safetymerely by desperate clutchings at rock or shrub, yet never once did theman loosen his guarding grasp of his companion. Pressed tightlyagainst the smooth rock, feeling for every crevice, every slightestirregularity of surface, making use of creeping tendril or dead branch,daring death along every inch of the way, these two creepers at lastattained the opening to the little gulley, and sank down, faint andtrembling, their hands bleeding, their clothing sadly torn by the sharpledges across which they had pulled their bodies by the sheer strengthof extended arms. Hampton panted heavily from exertion, yet the oldlight of cool, resourceful daring had crept back into the gray eyes,while the stern lines about his lips assumed pleasanter curves. Thegirl glanced furtively at him, the long lashes shadowing the expressionof her lowered eyes. In spite of deep prejudice she felt impelled tolike this man; he accomplished things, and he didn't talk.

  It was nothing more serious than a hard and toilsome climb after that,a continuous struggle testing every muscle, straining every sinew,causing both to sink down again and again, panting and exhausted, nolonger stimulated by imminent peril. The narrow cleft they followedled somewhat away from the exposed front of the precipice, yet arosesteep and jagged before them, a slender gash through the solid rock, upwhich they were often compelled to force their passage; again it becameclogged with masses of debris, dead branches, and dislodged fragmentsof stone, across which they were obliged to struggle desperately, whileonce they completely halted before a sheer smoothness of rock wall thatappeared impassable. It was bridged finally by a cedar trunk, whichHampton wrenched from out its rocky foothold, and the two creptcautiously forward, to emerge where the sunlight rested golden at thesummit. They sank face downward in the short grass, barely consciousthat they had finally won their desperate passage.

  Slowly Hampton succeeded in uplifting his tired body and his reelinghead, until he could sit partially upright and gaze unsteadily about.The girl yet remained motionless at his feet, her thick hair, a mass ofred gold in the sunshine, completely concealing her face, her slenderfigure quivering to sobs of utter exhaustion. Before them stretchedthe barren plain, brown, desolate, drear, offering in all its wideexpanse no hopeful promise of rescue, no slightest suggestion even ofwater, excepting a fringe of irregular trees, barely discernibleagainst the horizon. That lorn, deserted waste, shimmering beneath thesun-rays, the heat waves already becoming manifest above therock-strewn surface, presented a most depressing spectacle. With handpartially shading his aching eyes from the blinding glare, the manstudied its every exposed feature, his face hardening again into linesof stern determination. The girl stirred from her position, flingingback her heavy hair with one hand, and looking up into his face witheyes that read at once his disappointment.

  "Have--have you any water left?" she asked at last, her lips parchedand burning as if from fever.

  He shook the canteen dangling forgotten at his side. "There may be afew drops," he said, handing it to her, although scarcely removing hisfixed gaze from off that dreary plain. "We shall be obliged to makethose trees yonder; there ought to be water there in plenty, andpossibly we may strike a trail."

  She staggered to her feet, gripping his shoulder, and swaying a littlefrom weakness, then, holding aside her hair, gazed long in thedirection he pointed.

  "I fairly shake from hunger," she exclaimed, almost angrily, "and amterribly tired and sore, but I reckon I can make it if I 've got to."

  There was nothing more said between them. Like two automatons, theystarted off across the parched grass, the heat waves rising and fallingas they stumbled forward. Neither realized until then how thoroughlythat hard climb up the rocks, the strain of continued peril, and thelong abstinence from food had sapped their strength, yet to remainwhere they were meant certain death; all hope found its centre amidthose distant beckoning trees. Mechanically the girl gathered back herstraying tresses, and tied them with a rag torn from her frayed skirt.Hampton noted silently how heavy and sunken her eyes were; he felt adull pity, yet could not sufficiently arouse himself from the lethargyof exhaustion
to speak. His body seemed a leaden weight, his brain adull, inert mass; nothing was left him but an unreasoning purpose, theiron will to press on across that desolate plain, which already reeledand writhed before his aching eyes.

  No one can explain later how such deeds are ever accomplished; how thetortured soul controls physical weakness, and compels strained sinewsto perform the miracle of action when all ambition has died. Hamptonsurely must have both seen and known, for he kept his direction, yetnever afterwards did he regain any clear memory of it. Twice she fellheavily, and the last time she lay motionless, her face pressed againstthe short grass blades. He stood looking down upon her, his headreeling beneath the hot rays of the sun, barely conscious of what hadoccurred, yet never becoming totally dead to his duty. Painfully hestooped, lifted the limp, slender figure against his shoulder, and wentstraggling forward, as uncertain in steps as a blind man, all about himstretching the dull, dead desolation of the plain. Again and again hesank down, pillowing his eyes from the pitiless sun glare; only tostagger upright once more, ever bending lower and lower beneath hisunconscious burden.