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CHAPTER XXV
THE CHALLENGE

If love begets love and deceit begets deceit, then Wunpost was repaid according to his merits when Wilhelmina laid claim to his dog. She did it in a way that was almost coquettish, for coquetry is a form of deceit; but in the morning, when he was gone, she put his dog on his trail and followed along behind on her mule. And this, of course, was rank treachery no less, for her purpose was to discover his mine. If she found it, she had decided in the small hours of the night, she would locate it and claim it all; and that would teach him not to make fun of honest poverty or to try to buy kisses with gold. Because kisses, as she knew, could never be true unless they were given for love; and love itself calls for respect, first of all–and who can respect a boaster?

She reasoned in circles, as the best of us will when trying to justify doubtful acts; but she traveled in a straight line when she picked up Wunpost’s trail and followed him over the rocks. He had ridden out in the night, turning straight up the ridge where the mountain-sheep trail came down; and Good Luck bounded ahead of her, his nose to the ground, his bobbed tail working like mad. There was a dew on the ground, for the nights had turned cold and, though he was no hound, Good Luck could follow the scent, which was only a few hours old. Wunpost had slept till after midnight and then silently departed, taking only Old Walker and his mate; and the trail of their sharp-shod shoes was easily discernible except where they went over smooth rocks. It was here that Wunpost circled, to throw off possible pursuit; but busy little Good Luck was frantic to come up to him, and he smelled out the tracks and led on.

Wunpost had traveled in the night, and, after circling a few times, his trail straightened out and fell into a dim path which had been traversed by mules once before. Up and up it led, until Tellurium was exhausted and Wilhelmina had to get off and walk; and at last, when it was almost at the summit of the range, it entered a great stone patch and was lost. But the stone-patch was not limitless, and Wilhelmina was determined–she rode out around it, and soon Good Luck dropped his nose and set out straight to the south. To the south! That would take him into the canyon above Blackwater, where the pocket-miners had their claims; but surely the great Sockdolager was not over there, for the district had been worked for years.

Wilhelmina’s heart stopped as she looked out the country from the high ridge beyond the stone-patch–could it be that his mine was close? Was it possible that his great strike was right there at their door while they had been searching for it clear across Death Valley? It was like the crafty Wunpost always to head north when his mine was hidden safely to the south; and yet how had it escaped the eyes of the prospectors who had been combing the hills for months? Where was it possible for a mine to be hid in all that expanse of peaks? She sat down on the summit and considered.

Happy Canyon lay below her, leading off to the west towards Blackwater and the Sink, and beyond and to the south there was a jumble of sharp-peaked hills painted with stripes of red and yellow and white. It was a rough country, and bone dry; perhaps the prospectors had avoided it and so failed to find his lost mine. Or perhaps he was throwing a circle out through this broken ground to come back by Hungry Bill’s ranch. Wilhelmina sat and meditated, searching the country with the very glasses which Wunpost himself had given her; and Good Luck came back and whined. He had found his master’s trail, it led on to the south, and now Wilhelmina would not come. She did not even take notice of him, and after watching her face Good Luck turned and ran resolutely on. He knew whose dog he was, even if she did not; and after calling to him perfunctorily Wilhelmina let him go, for even this defection might be used.

Wunpost was so puffed up with pride over the devotion of his dog that he would be pleased beyond measure to have him follow, and from her lookout on the ridge she could watch where Good Luck went and spy out the trail for miles. It was time to turn back if she was to reach home by dark, but that white, scurrying form was too good a marker and she followed him through her glasses for an hour. He would go bounding up some ridge and plunge down into the next canyon; and then, still running, he would top another summit until at last he was lost in a black canyon. It was different from the rest, its huge flank veiled in shadow until it was black as the entrance to a cavern; and the piebald point that crowned its southern rim was touched with a broad splash of white. Wilhelmina marked it well and then she turned back with crazy schemes still chasing through her brain.

Time and again Wunpost had boasted that his mine was not staked, and that it lay there a prize for the first man who found it or trailed him to his mine. Well, she, Wilhelmina, had trailed him part way; and after he was gone she would ride to that black canyon and look for big chunks of gold. And if she ever found his mine she would locate it for herself, and have her claim recorded; and then perhaps he would change his ways and stop calling her Billy and Kid. She was not a boy, and she was not a kid; but a grown-up woman, just as good as he was and, it might be, just as smart. And oh, if she could only find that hidden mine and dig out a mule-load of gold! It would serve him right, when he came back from Los Angeles or from having a good time inside, to find that his mine had been jumped by a girl and that she had taken him at his word. He had challenged her to find it, and dared her to stake it–very well, she would show him what a desert girl can do, once she makes up her mind to play the game.

He was always exhorting her to play the game, and to forget all that righteousness stuff–as if being righteous was worse than a crime, and a reflection upon the intelligence as well. But she would let him know that even the righteous can play the game, and if she could ever stake his mine she would show him no mercy until he confessed that he had been wrong. And then she would compel him to make his peace with Eells and–but that could be settled later. She rode home in a whirl, now imagining herself triumphant and laying down the law to him and Eells; then coming back to earth and thinking up excuses to offer when her lover returned. He might find her tracks, where she had followed on his trail–well, she would tell him about Good Luck, and how he had led her up the trail until at last he had run away and left her. And if he demanded the kiss–instead of asking for it nicely–well, that would be a good time to quarrel.

It was almost Machiavellian, the way she schemed and plotted, and upon her return home she burst into tears and informed her mother that Good Luck was lost. But her early training in the verities now stood her in good stead, for Good Luck was lost; so of course she was telling the truth, though it was a long way from being the whole truth. And the tears were real tears, for her conscience began to trouble her the moment she faced her mother. Yet as beginners at poker often win through their ignorance, and because nobody can tell when they will bluff, so Wilhelmina succeeded beyond measure in her first bout at “playing the game.” For if her efforts lacked finesse she had a life-time of truth-telling to back up the clumsiest deceit. And besides, the Campbells had troubles of their own without picking at flaws in their daughter. She had come to an age when she was restive of all restraint and they wisely left her alone.

The second day of Wunpost’s absence she went up to her father’s mine and brought back the burros, packed with ore; but on the third day she stayed at home, working feverishly in her new garden and watching for Wunpost’s return. His arm was not yet healed and he might injure it by digging, or his mules might fly back and hurt him; and ever since his departure she had thought of nothing else but those Apaches who had twice tried to murder him. What if they had spied him from the heights and followed him to his mine, or waylaid him and killed him for his money? She had not thought of that when she had made their foolish bet, but it left her sick with regrets. And if anything happened to him she could never forgive herself, for she would be the cause of it all. She watched the ridge till evening, then ran up to her lookout–and there he was, riding in from the north. Her heart stood still, for who would look for him there; and then as he waved at her she gathered up her hindering skirts and ran down the hill to meet him.

He rode in majestically, swaying about on his big mule; and behind him followed his pack-mule, weighed down with two kyacks of ore, and Good Luck was tied on the pack. Nothing had happened to him, he was safe–and yet something must have happened, for he was riding in from the north.

“Oh, I’m so glad!” she panted as he dropped down to greet her, and before she knew it she had rushed into his arms and given him the kiss and more. “I was afraid the Indians had killed you,” she explained, and he patted her hands and stood dumb. Something poignant was striving within him for expression, but he could only pat her hands.

“Nope,” he said and slipped his arm around her waist, at which Wilhelmina looked up and smiled. She had intended to quarrel with him, so he would depart for Los Angeles and leave her free to go steal his mine–but that was æons ago, before she knew her own heart or realized how wrong it would be.

“You like me; don’t you, kid?” he remarked at last, and she nodded and looked away.

“Sometimes,” she admitted, “and then you spoil it all. You must take your arm away now.”

He took his arm away, and then it crept back again in a rapturous, bear-like hug.

“Aw, quit your fooling, kid,” he murmured in her ear, “you know you like me a lot. And say, I’m going to ask you a leading question–will you promise to answer ‘Yes’?”

He laughed and let her go, all but one hand that he held, and then he drew her back.

“You know what I mean,” he said. “I want you to be my wife.”

He waited, but there was no answer; only a swaying away from him and a reluctant striving against his grip. “Come on,” he urged, “let’s go in to Los Angeles and you can help me spend my money. I’ve got lots of it, kid, and it’s yours for the asking–the whole or any part of it. But you’re too pretty a girl to be shut up here in Jail Canyon, working your hands off at packing ore and slaving around like Hungry Bill’s daughters─”

“What do you mean?” she demanded, striking his hands aside and turning to face him angrily, and Wunpost saw he had gone too far.

“Aw, now, Wilhelmina,” he pleaded, then fell into a sulky silence as she tossed back her curls and spoke.

“Don’t you think,” she burst out, “that I like to work for my father? Well, I do; and I ought to do more! And I’d like to know where Hungry Bill comes in─”

“He don’t!” stated Wunpost, who was beginning to see red; but she rushed on, undeterred.

“─because you don’t need to think I’m a squaw. We may be poor, but you can’t buy me– and my father doesn’t need to keep watch of me. I guess I’ve been brought up to act like a lady, if I did–oh, I just hate the sight of you!”

She ended a little weakly, for the memory of that kiss made her blush and hang her head; but Wunpost had been trained to match hate with a hate, and he reared up his mane and stepped back.

“Aw, who said you were a squaw?” he retorted arrogantly. “But you might as well be, by grab! Only old Hungry Bill takes his girls down to town, but you never git to go nowhere.”

“I don’t want to go!” she cried in a passion. “I want to stay here and help all I can. But all you talk about now is how much money you’ve got, as if nothing else in the world ever counts.”

“Well, forget it!” grumbled Wunpost, swinging up on his mule and starting off up the canyon. “I’ll go off and give you a rest. And maybe them girls in Los Angeles won’t treat me quite so high-headed.”

“I don’t care,” began Wilhelmina–but she did, and so she stopped. And then the old plan, conceived æons ago, rose up and took possession of her mind. She followed along behind him, and already in her thoughts she was the owner of the Sockdolager Mine. She held it for herself, without recognizing his claims or any that Eells might bring; and while she dug out the gold and shoveled it into sacks they stood by and looked on enviously. But when her mules were loaded she took the gold away and gave it to her father for his road.

“I don’t care!” she repeated, and she meant it.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE FINE PRINT

A week passed by, and Wilhelmina rode into Blackwater and mailed a letter to the County Recorder; and a week later she came back, to receive a letter in return and to buy at the store with gold. And then the big news broke–the Sockdolager had been found–and there was a stampede that went clear to the peaks. Blackwater was abandoned, and swarming again the next day with the second wave of stampeders; and the day after that John C. Calhoun piled out of the stage and demanded to see Wilhelmina. He hardly knew her at first, for she had bought a new dress; and she sat in an office up over the bank, talking business with several important persons.

“What’s this I hear?” he demanded truculently, when he had cleared the room of all callers. “I hear you’ve located my mine.”

“Yes, I have,” she admitted. “But of course it wasn’t yours–and besides, you said I could have it.”

“Where is it at?” he snapped, sweating and fighting back his hair, and when she told him he groaned.

“How’d you find it?” he asked, and then he groaned again, for she had followed his own fresh trail.

“Stung!” he moaned and sank down in a chair, at which she dimpled prettily.

“Yes,” she said, “but it was all for your own good. And anyway, you dared me to do it.”

“Yes, I did,” he assented with a weary sigh. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

“Why, nothing,” she returned. “I’m going to sell out to Mr. Eells and─”

“To Eells!” he yelled. “Well, by the holy, jumping Judas–how much is he going to give you?”

“Forty thousand dollars and─”

“Forty thousand! Say, she’s worth forty million! For cripes’ sake–have you signed the papers?”

“No, I haven’t, but─”

“Well, then, don’t! Don’t you do it–don’t you dare to sign anything, not even a receipt for your money! Oh, my Lord, I just got here in time!”

“But I’m going to,” ended Wilhelmina, and then for the first time he noticed the look in her eye. It was as cold and steely as a gun-fighter’s.

“Why–what’s the matter?” he clamored. “You ain’t sore at me, are you? But even if you are, don’t sign any papers until I tell you about that mine. How much ore have you got in sight?”

“Why, just that one vein, where it goes under the black rock─”

“They’s two others!” he panted, “that I covered up on purpose. Oh, my Lord, this is simply awful.”

“Two others!” echoed Wilhelmina, and then she sat dumb while a scared look crept into her eyes. “Well, I didn’t know that,” she went on at last, “and of course we lost everything, that other time. So when Mr. Eells offered me forty thousand cash and agreed to release you from that grubstake contract─”

“You throwed the whole thing away, eh?”

He had turned sullen now and petulantly discontented and the fire flashed back into her eyes.

“Well, is that all the thanks I get? I thought you wanted that contract!”

“I did!” he complained, “but if you’d left me alone I’d’ve got it away from him for nothing. But forty thousand dollars! Say, what’s your doggoned hurry–have you got to sell out the first day?”

“No, but that time before, when he tried to buy us out I held on until I didn’t get anything. And father has been waiting for his road so long─”

“Oh, that road again!” snarled Wunpost. “Is that all you think about? You’ve thrown away millions of dollars!”

“Well, anyway, I’ve got the road!” she answered with spirit, “and that’s more than I did before. If I’d followed my own judgment instead of taking your advice─”

“Your judgment!” he mocked; “say, shake yourself, kid–you’ve pulled the biggest bonehead of a life-time.”

“I don’t care!” she answered, “I’ll get forty thousand dollars. And if Father builds his road our mine will be worth millions, so why shouldn’t I let this one go?”

“Oh, boys!” sighed Wunpost and slumped down in his chair, then roused up with a wild look in his eyes. “You haven’t signed up, have you?” he demanded again. “Well, thank God, then, I got here in time!”

“No you didn’t,” she said, “because I told him I’d do it and we’ve already drawn up the papers. At first he wouldn’t hear to it, to release you from your contract; but when I told him I wouldn’t sell without it, he and Lapham had a conference and they’re downstairs now having it copied. There are to be three copies, one for each of us and one for you, because of course you’re an interested party. And I thought, if you were released, you could go out and find another mine and─”

“Another one!” raved Wunpost. “Say, you must think it’s easy! I’ll never find another one in a life-time. Another Sockdolager? I could sell that mine tomorrow for a million dollars, cash; it’s got a hundred thousand dollars in sight!”

“Well, that’s what you told me when we had the Willie Meena, and now already they say it’s worked out–and I know Mr. Eells isn’t rich. He had to send to Los Angeles to get the money for this first payment─”

“What, have you accepted his money?” shouted Wunpost accusingly, and Wilhelmina rose to her feet.

“Mr. Calhoun,” she said, “I’ll have you to understand that I own this mine myself. And I’m not going to sit here and be yelled at like a Mexican–not by you or anybody else.”

“Oh, it’s yours, is it?” he jeered. “Well, excuse me for living; but who came across it in the first place?”

“Well, you did,” she conceded, “and if you hadn’t been always bragging about it you might be owning it yet. But you were always showing off, and making fun of my father, and saying we were all such fools– so I thought I’d just show you, and it’s no use talking now, because I’ve agreed to sell it to Eells.”

“That’s all right, kid,” he nodded, after a long minute of silence. “I reckon I had it coming to me. But, by grab, I never thought that little Billy Campbell would throw the hooks into me like this.”

“No, and I wouldn’t,” she returned, “only you just treated us like dirt. I’m glad, and I’d do it again.”

“Well, I’ve learned one thing,” he muttered gloomily; “I’ll never trust a woman again.”

“Now isn’t that just like a man!” exclaimed Wilhelmina indignantly. “You know you never trusted anybody. I asked you one time where you got all that ore and you looked smart and said: ‘That’s a question. If I’d tell you, you’d know the answer.’ Those were the very words you said. And now you’ll never trust a woman again!”

She laughed, and Wunpost rose slowly to his feet, but he did not get out of the door.

“What’s the matter?” she taunted; “did ‘them Los Angeles girls’ fool you, too? Or am I the only one?”

“You’re the only one,” he answered ambiguously, and stood looking at her queerly.

“Well, cheer up!” she dimpled, for her mood was gay. “You’ll find another one, somewhere.”

“No I won’t,” he said; “you’re the only one, Billy. But I never looked for nothing like this.”

“Well, you told me to get onto myself and learn to play the game, and finally I took you at your word.”

“Yes,” he agreed, “I can’t say a word. But these Blackwater stiffs will sure throw it into me when they find I’ve been trimmed by a girl. The best thing I can do is to drift.”

He put his hand on the door-knob, but she knew he would not go, and he turned back with a sheepish grin.

“What do the folks think about this?” he inquired casually, and Wilhelmina made a face.

“They think I’m just awful!” she confessed. “But I don’t care–I’m tired of being poor.”

“Don’t reckon there’ll be another cloudburst, do you, about the time you get your road built?”

She grew sober at that and then her eyes gleamed.

“I don’t care!” she repeated, “and besides, I didn’t steal this. You told me I could have it, you know.”

“Too fine a point for me,” he decided. “We’ll just see, after you build your new road.”

“Well, I’m going to build it,” she stated, “because he’ll worry himself to death. And I don’t care what happens to me, as long as he gets his road.”

“Well, I’ve seen ’em that wanted all kinds of things, but you’re the first one that wanted a road. And so you’re going to sign this contract if it loses you a million dollars?”

“Yes, I am,” she said. “We’ve drawn it all up and I’ve given him my word, so there’s nothing else to do.”

“Yes, there is,” he replied. “Tell him you’ve changed your mind and want a million dollars. Tell him that I’ve come back and don’t want that grubstake contract and that you’ll take it all in cash.”

“No,” she frowned, “now there’s no use arguing, because I’ve fully made up my mind. And if─” She paused and listened as steps came down the hall. “They’re coming,” she said and smiled.

There was a rapid patter of feet and Lapham rapped and came in, bearing some papers and his notary’s stamp; but when he saw Wunpost he stopped and stood aghast, while his stamp fell to the floor with a bang.

“Why, why–oh, excuse me!” he broke out, turning to dart through the door; but the mighty bulk of Eells had blocked his way and now it forced him back.

“Why–what’s this?” demanded Eells, and then he saw Wunpost and his lip dropped down and came up. “Oh, excuse me, Miss Campbell,” he burst out hastily, “we’ll come back–didn’t know you were occupied.” He started to back out and Wunpost and Wilhelmina exchanged glances, for they had never seen him flustered before. But now he was stampeded, though why they could not guess, for he had never feared Wunpost before.

“Oh, don’t go!” cried Wilhelmina; “we were just waiting for you to come. Please come back–I want to have it over with.”

She flew to the door and held it open and Eells and his lawyer filed in.

“Don’t let me disturb you,” said Wunpost grimly and stood with his back to the wall. There was something in the wind, he could guess that already, and he waited to see what would happen. But if Eells had been startled his nerve had returned, and he proceeded with ponderous dignity.

“This won’t take but a moment,” he observed to Wilhelmina as he spread the papers before her. “Here are the three copies of our agreement and”–he shook out his fountain pen–“you put your name right there.”

“No you don’t!” spoke up Wunpost, breaking in on the spell, “don’t sign nothing that you haven’t read.”

He fixed her with his eyes and as Wilhelmina read his thoughts she laid down the waiting pen. Eells drew up his lip, Lapham shuffled uneasily, and Wilhelmina took up the contract. She glanced through it page by page, dipping in here and there and then turning impatiently ahead; and as she struggled with its verbiage the sweat burst from Eells’ face and ran unnoticed down his neck.

“All right,” she smiled, and was picking up the pen when she paused and turned hurriedly back.

“Anything the matter?” croaked Lapham, clearing his throat and hovering over her, and Wilhelmina looked up helplessly.

“Yes; please show me the place where it tells about that contract–the one for Mr. Calhoun.”

“Oh–yes,” stammered Lapham, and then he hesitated and glanced across at Eells. “Why–er─” he began, running rapidly through the sheets, and John C. Calhoun strode forward.

“What did I tell you?” he said, nodding significantly at Wilhelmina and grabbing up the damning papers. “That’ll do for you,” he said to Lapham. “We’ll have you in the Pen for this.” And when Lapham and Eells both rushed at him at once he struck them aside with one hand. For they did not come on fighting, but all in a tremble, clutching wildly to get back the papers.

“I knowed it,” announced Wunpost; “that clause isn’t there. This is one time when we read the fine print.”