Snow-Bound at Eagles | Page 4

light of the lantern, laid it on a spot in the road indicated by the
voice. A thick envelope, taken from his breast pocket, was laid beside it.
"I told the d--d fools that gave it to me, instead of sending it by express,
it would be at their own risk," he said apologetically.
"As it's going with the express now it's all the same," said the inevitable
humorist of the occasion, pointing to the despoiled express treasure-box
already in the road.
The intention and deliberation of the outrage was plain enough to
Hale's inexperience now. Yet he could not understand the cool
acquiescence of his fellow-passengers, and was furious. His reflections
were interrupted by a voice which seemed to come from a greater

distance. He fancied it was even softer in tone, as if a certain austerity
was relaxed.
"Step in as quick as you like, gentlemen. You've five minutes to wait,
Bill."
The passengers reentered the coach; the driver and express messenger
hurriedly climbed to their places. Hale would have spoken, but an
impatient gesture from his companions stopped him. They were
evidently listening for something; he listened too.
Yet the silence remained unbroken. It seemed incredible that there
should be no indication near or far of that forceful presence which a
moment ago had been so dominant. No rustle in the wayside "brush,"
nor echo from the rocky canyon below, betrayed a sound of their flight.
A faint breeze stirred the tall tips of the pines, a cone dropped on the
stage roof, one of the invisible horses that seemed to be listening too
moved slightly in his harness. But this only appeared to accentuate the
profound stillness. The moments were growing interminable, when the
voice, so near as to startle Hale, broke once more from the surrounding
obscurity.
"Good-night!"
It was the signal that they were free. The driver's whip cracked like a
pistol shot, the horses sprang furiously forward, the huge vehicle
lurched ahead, and then bounded violently after them. When Hale
could make his voice heard in the confusion--a confusion which
seemed greater from the colorless intensity of their last few moments'
experience--he said hurriedly, "Then that fellow was there all the
time?"
"I reckon," returned his companion, "he stopped five minutes to cover
the driver with his double-barrel, until the two other men got off with
the treasure."
"The TWO others!" gasped Hale. "Then there were only THREE men,
and we SIX."

The man shrugged his shoulders. The passenger who had given up the
greenbacks drawled, with a slow, irritating tolerance, "I reckon you're a
stranger here?"
"I am--to this sort of thing, certainly, though I live a dozen miles from
here, at Eagle's Court," returned Hale scornfully.
"Then you're the chap that's doin' that fancy ranchin' over at Eagle's,"
continued the man lazily.
"Whatever I'm doing at Eagle's Court, I'm not ashamed of it," said Hale
tartly; "and that's more than I can say of what I've done--or HAVEN'T
done--to-night. I've been one of six men over-awed and robbed by
THREE."
"As to the over-awin', ez you call it--mebbee you know more about it
than us. As to the robbin'--ez far as I kin remember, YOU haven't
onloaded much. Ef you're talkin' about what OUGHTER have been
done, I'll tell you what COULD have happened. P'r'aps ye noticed that
when he pulled up I made a kind of grab for my wepping behind me?"
"I did; and you wern't quick enough," said Hale shortly.
"I wasn't quick enough, and that saved YOU. For ef I got that pistol out
and in sight o' that man that held the gun--"
"Well," said Hale impatiently, "he'd have hesitated."
"He'd hev blown YOU with both barrels outer the window, and that
before I'd got a half-cock on my revolver."
"But that would have been only one man gone, and there would have
been five of you left," said Hale haughtily.
"That might have been, ef you'd contracted to take the hull charge of
two handfuls of buck-shot and slugs; but ez one eighth o' that amount
would have done your business, and yet left enough to have gone round,
promiskiss, and satisfied the other passengers, it wouldn't do to

kalkilate upon."
"But the express messenger and the driver were armed," continued
Hale.
"They were armed, but not FIXED; that makes all the difference."
"I don't understand."
"I reckon you know what a duel is?"
"Yes."
"Well, the chances agin US was about the same as you'd have ef you
was put up agin another chap who was allowed to draw a bead on you,
and the signal to fire was YOUR DRAWIN' YOUR WEAPON. You
may be a stranger to this sort o' thing, and p'r'aps you never fought a
duel, but even then you wouldn't go foolin'